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Origin and history of synonym

synonym(n.)

"word having the same sense as another," early 15c., synoneme, sinonyme, from Old French synonyme (12c.) and directly from Late Latin synonymum, from Greek synōnymon "word having the same sense as another," noun use of neuter of synōnymos "having the same name as, synonymous," from syn- "together, same" (see syn-) + onyma, Aeolic dialectal form of onoma "name" (from PIE root *no-men- "name").

Opposite of antonym. In Middle English also as the name of a 7c. book by Isidore, a dialogue between Man and Reason who describe differently the same situations. Until 18c. usually in plural form, synonymes, or, if singular, synonyma. The modern form of the word "scarcely makes its appearance, except in dictionaries, till the close of the 18th century" [OED, 2nd edition, print, 1989].

But what we have long and loosely called synonyms are now understood to be, with trifling exceptions, pseudo-synonyms, by which are meant vocables approximating in import, but not equipollent or interchangeable. [Fitzedward Hall, "Modern English," 1873]

Hall's choice as a technically exact word in place of synonyms was homœosemants.

also from early 15c.

Entries linking to synonym

antonym(n.)

"an antithetical word," 1867, coined to serve as opposite of synonym, from Greek anti "opposite, against" (see anti-) + onym "name" (from PIE root *no-men- "name"). Perhaps introduced to English in the book "Synonyms and Antonyms" (1867) by the Ven. C.J. Smith, M.A.

UNDER the head of Synonyms and Antonyms, Archdeacon Smith arranges words which form an antithesis to one another. The word "antonym" is, we believe, a new formation but useful. [Journal of Sacred Literature, July 1867]

French antonyme (1842), German antonym (by 1859) are older. The un-Greek alternative counterterm has been left to fade.

synonymic(adj.)

"of or pertaining to a synonym or synonyms," 1816; see synonym + -ic.