Etymograph

English

romantic

Romantic is either romant + -ic or borrowed from Late Latin romanticus ‘having qualities of a romance’.

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEromanticus1‘having qualities of a romance’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1851romantic1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English romantic
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1851, Herman Melville, The Whale: “But here is an artist. He desires to paint…”.

Lineage

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEromanticusWiktionary, English romantic‘having qualities of a romance’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1851romanticWiktionary, English romantic. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1851, Herman Melville, The Whale: “But here is an artist. He desires to paint…”

The story

Also compare Spanish romántico, Portuguese romântico, Italian romantico, Dutch romantisch, and German romantisch and Romantiker (‘a composer of Romantic music’), all of which are borrowed from English or French.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

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Today it means

adj Of a work of literature, a writer etc.: being like or having the characteristics of a romance, or poetic tale of a mythic or quasi-historical time; fantastic.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “romantic”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Late Latin romanticus / romantic