What does literature meen?

Answer 1

Dictionary.com defines literature as:

1. writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays. 2. the entire body of writings of a specific language, period, people, etc.: the literature of England. 3. the writings dealing with a particular subject: the literature of ornithology. 4. the profession of a writer or author. 5. literary work or production. 6. any kind of printed material, as circulars, leaflets, or handbills: literature describing company products. 7. Archaic. polite learning; literary culture; appreciation of letters and books.

Ubder Word Origin and history it says that the word originates in about 1375 and comes from the Latin "lit(t)eraturameaning "learning, writing, grammar," originally "writing formed with letters," from lit(t)era "letter." Originally "book learning", the meaning "literary production or work" is first attested 1779 in Johnson's "Lives of the English Poets"."