Rhymer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An individual engaged in the art of composing poetry or lyrics characterized by a pattern of repeating sounds at the end of lines
2. A person adept at crafting verses or songs that utilize similar sound endings to create rhythm and melody
3. A person who creates poetry or songs by matching end sounds to produce rhythm and flow

Etymology: The most surprising fact here is that the earliest sense had nothing to do with poetry. The Old English "rīmere" meant a reckoner or calculator, someone who counted and computed. The word came from "rīm," meaning number, which is also where our modern "rhyme" ultimately traces, so a rhymer was first a kind of accountant. The shift from counting to verse happened because rhyme and number were once closely linked in the medieval mind. The connection between "rhyme" and "rime" in the sense of counting reflects this older tie, and the word moved from arithmetic toward the sounds that echo at line endings. Cognates in Dutch ("rijmer"), German ("Reimer"), Danish ("rimer"), Swedish ("rimmare"), and Icelandic ("rímari") show that the same formation with the agent suffix "-er" was shared across the northern Germanic and West Germanic languages.

Synonyms: poet, versifier, bard, lyricist, balladeer