Etymology: < French anecdote private writings on history, not intended for publication (1646 in plural with reference to Procopius's Anecdota, or earlier), curious historical episode or detail (1718), short account of an amusing, interesting, or telling incident or experience (18th cent.) < post-classical Latin anecdota (1555 or earlier as the title of a work by Procopius, 1597 or earlier in the titles of works by other authors) < Byzantine Greek ἀνέκδοτα things unpublished, applied by Procopius to his ‘Unpublished Memoirs’ of the Emperor Justinian, which consisted chiefly of tales of the private life of the court, use as noun of neuter plural of Hellenistic Greek ἀνέκδοτος unpublished, already in ancient Greek in sense ‘not given in marriage’ < ἀν- an- prefix² + ἔκδοτος given up, delivered < ἔκ out of (see ex- prefix²) + Hellenistic Greek δοτός given < the stem of ancient Greek διδόναι to give (see datum n.) + -τος , suffix forming verbal adjectives, after ἐκδιδόναι to give out. Compare later anecdota n.Compare Spanish anecdoto (1730 as adjective, 1740 as noun), Portuguese anedota (1727), Italian aneddoto (a1729), and also German Anekdote (1734; in early use often with Latin inflectional endings). Cicero uses Hellenistic Greek ἀνέκδοτος in the sense ‘unpublished’ in a Latin context ( Letters to Atticus 14. 17. 6).

Etymology: < anecdote n. Compare earlier anecdoting adj.Compare French anecdoter (1801).