Who invented the word autobiography?

Answer 1

I don't know! Why doesn't the person who owns this website find out?

I don't own the website but I found this out:

This is the origin of biography according to the Oxford dictionary:

late 17th century: from French biographie or modern Latin biographia, from medieval Greek, from bios 'life' + -graphia 'writing'

As a prefix auto- according to the Oxford dictionary: comes from the Greek autos 'self'

But according to wikipedia:

The word autobiography was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English periodical the Monthly Review, when he suggested the word as a hybrid but condemned it as 'pedantic'; but its next recorded use was in its present sense by Robert Southey in 1809

Answer 2

The word "autobiography" was coined by William Taylor, a British writer and translator, in 1797. It is derived from the Greek words "autos" (self) and "bios" (life), meaning a written account of one's own life.