sonnet

Where does the word "sonnet" come from? It comes from Italian sonetto, passing through French before entering English (1557).

Sonnet’s story begins in Italian: sonetto meant “a little sound, a little song.” Literally a little sound, a diminutive of suono (sound). By 1540s, the word had taken hold in French as sonnet. Italian 'little song'; Petrarch's sonnets inspired Wyatt and Surrey, who brought the form to English. It reached English by 1557 as sonnet. Settled as the English word for the fourteen-line poetic form, borrowed from French or Italian. Today, sonnet means a fourteen-line poem with a traditional rhyme scheme, often about love.

1. Stage 1 · Italian · medieval sonetto "a little sound, a little song", literally a little sound, a diminutive of suono (sound).
2. Stage 2 · French · 1540s sonnet "a little song, a short poem", Italian 'little song'; Petrarch's sonnets inspired Wyatt and Surrey, who brought the form to English.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1557 sonnet "a fourteen-line poem with a fixed rhyme scheme", settled as the English word for the fourteen-line poetic form, borrowed from French or Italian.