Origins
The word 'novel' has two lives in English: as an adjective meaning 'new and original,' and as a noun naming what became the dominant literary form of the modern world.βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ Both descend from the same Latin root, and the connection between them is not accidental β the novel as a literary form was named for its novelty.
The adjective entered English in the fifteenth century from Old French 'novel' (new, fresh, recent), from Latin 'novellus' (new, young, fresh), a diminutive of 'novus' (new), from PIE *nΓ©wos (new). The noun followed in the sixteenth century, borrowed from Italian 'novella' (a short story, a tale, a piece of news), itself from the Latin neuter plural 'novella' (new things). The Italian literary 'novella' β a short prose tale β was popularized by Boccaccio's Decameron (c. 1353), a collection of one hundred novelle. When longer prose fictions emerged, the term 'novel' was applied to them, initially to distinguish these new prose narratives from the older verse romances.
The PIE root *nΓ©wos is among the most widespread and stable in the Indo-European family. English 'new' is its native Germanic descendant (from Old English 'nΔ«we,' from Proto-Germanic *niwjaz). Latin 'novus' produced the entire Romance family: French 'nouveau,' Spanish 'nuevo,' Italian 'nuovo,' Portuguese 'novo,' Romanian 'nou.' Greek 'neos' (new) gave English 'neon' (the new element, so named when discovered in 1898), 'neophyte' (a new plant, a beginner), 'neologism' (a new word), and the prefix 'neo-' in countless compounds. Sanskrit 'nava' (new) completes the picture across the Indo-European world.
Proto-Indo-European Roots
From Latin 'novus' and its derivatives, English acquired a rich family. 'Novice' (from Latin 'novicius,' newly arrived) β one who is new to something. 'Innovate' (from Latin 'innovΔre,' to make new) β to introduce something new. 'Renovate' (from Latin 'renovΔre,' to make new again) β to restore by renewing. 'Nova' and 'supernova' β stars that appear new in the sky (Latin 'stella nova,' new star). 'November' was originally the ninth month of the Roman calendar ('novem,' nine β related to 'novus' only by folk association, as 'novem' comes from PIE *hβnΓ©wnΜ₯, nine).
The literary history of the word is tangled. 'Novel' and 'romance' competed for centuries as names for long prose fiction. In English, 'romance' originally referred to any narrative in a Romance language (as opposed to Latin), then to fantastic tales of chivalry, and eventually to a specific genre. 'Novel' came to denote realistic prose fiction β stories of ordinary people in recognizable settings β as distinct from the improbable adventures of romance. This distinction, formalized by critics like Clara Reeve in the eighteenth century, gave the 'novel' its identity as the literary form of the modern, the everyday, the new.
The emergence of the English novel is traditionally dated to the early eighteenth century, with Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740) among the earliest candidates, though the question of 'the first novel' depends entirely on definition. What is clear is that the form was perceived as genuinely new β prose fiction of substantial length, dealing with contemporary life in a realistic manner β and the name stuck. The novel was, and in a sense always is, the new thing in literature.