'Soliloquy' was coined by Saint Augustine — Latin for 'talking to oneself,' from 'solus' + 'loqui.'
An act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play. A part of a play involving such speech.
From Latin 'sōliloquium' (a talking to oneself), a compound of 'sōlus' (alone, only, by oneself) and 'loquī' (to speak, to talk). The PIE root of 'sōlus' is *s(w)e- (oneself, one's own), the reflexive pronoun root that gives Latin 'se' (himself/herself) and English 'self.' The PIE root of 'loquī' is *tolkʷ- or *lekʷ- (to speak), which gives Latin 'eloquent,' 'eloquence,' 'colloquy' (speaking together), 'loquacious,' and 'ventriloquist' (belly-speaker). The word 'soliloquy' was coined or popularised in the context of dramatic theory — most prominently in English by Ben Jonson and later
Saint Augustine, who coined the word 'soliloquium,' apologized for inventing it. In his 'Soliloquia' — a dialogue between himself and Reason — he wrote: 'I had been turning many things over in my mind, by myself and in the presence of God, and the mode of this thinking I wished to call Soliloquia — a new word, perhaps ugly, but apt for its purpose.' It is one of the few cases in linguistic history where the inventor of a word is known by name and expressed embarrassment about the creation