new [OE] New comes from the same root as Latin novus, the source of the English words innovate [M16th], *novel, novice [ME], and renovate [E16th]. The noun news [LME] is simply the plural of new. It came into use as a translation of Old French noveles or medieval Latin nova, meaning ‘new things’. The proverb no news is good news, although modern-sounding, can be traced back at least as far as the time of King James I, who wrote in 1616 that ‘No newis is bettir then evill newis’. It may be based on the Italian phrase Nulla nuova, buona nova (‘No news, good news’). Newfangled [ME] is from new and a second element related to an Old English word meaning ‘to take’.