Star-studded - Theatre Etymology - Part 45

Star-studded can be taken literally. A sky can be star-studded meaning that it is filled with stars. However, star-studded also has a theatrical meaning. It means that a show is full of famous people. These famous people have been come to be known as stars.

The reason why celebrities are called stars is a bit more complicated. The first use of the word star meaning a celebrity came from 1751 in Bays in Council with an announcement saying, "You may Shine the brightest Theatric Star, that ever enliven'd of charm'd an Audience." The reason for this usage comes from Shakespeare, Molière, and Chaucer.S

In The House of Fame, Chaucer wrote, "O God Who made nature, am I to die in no other way? Will Jove transform me into a star?" Then, Shakespeare wrote "We make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and stars as if we were villains on necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion" in King Lear and "an ever-fixed mark / That looks on tempests and is never shaken; / It is the star to every wand’ring bark, / Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken" in Sonnet 116. While these usages don't refer to a person specifically, they led up to that usage.

In 1662, in School for Wives, Molière wrote, "this young star of love, adorned by so many charms" referring to the character of Agnes. From this, it was easy for others to start using star to refer to a person. Even though star is recorded as early as 1662, it is reported that star-studded was not recorded until sometime between 1950 abd 1955. Star comes from the Middle English word sterre or the old Old English word steorra. It can also come from the with Old High German word sterra which is akin to the Old High German word sterno, the Old Norse word stjarna, the Gothic word stairno, the Latin word stella, the Greek word astḗr, and the Sanskrit word stṛ. Studded is a form of stud. Stud comes from the Middle English word stude meaning knob or post. It may also come from the Old English word studu meaning post, the Middle High German word stud, or the Old Norse word stoth meaning post.

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