Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Novel in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels novel as adjective. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913adjective
Novel

[OF. novel, nuvel, F. nouvel, nouveau, L. novellus, dim. of novus new. See New.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordnovel
Part of speechadjective
Historical etymology[OF. novel, nuvel, F. nouvel, nouveau, L. novellus, dim. of novus new. See New.]
Selected historical definitionOf recent origin or introduction; not ancient; new; hence, out of the ordinary course; unusual; strange; surprising.
Signed record IDwebster1913-novel-adjective-47d6daf0532d
Source locatorCIDE.N, paragraph 3668; Gutenberg eBook 665
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 665Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "novel" is labeled adjective. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OF. novel, nuvel, F. nouvel, nouveau, L. novellus, dim. of novus new. See New.]" The selected historical definition says: "Of recent origin or introduction; not ancient; new; hence, out of the ordinary course; unusual; strange; surprising."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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