O.E.
sang "art of singing, a metrical composition adapted for singing," from P.Gmc.
*sangwaz (cf. O.N.
söngr, Norw.
song, Swed.
sång, O.S., Dan., O.Fris., O.H.G., Ger.
sang, M.Du.
sanc, Du.
zang, Goth.
saggws), related to
sing (q.v.).
Songbook is O.E.
sangboc; song-bird is from 1774;
songster is O.E.
sangystre. Phrase
for a song is from "All's Well" III.ii.9.
With a song in (one's) heart "feeling of joy" is first attested 1930 in Lorenz Hart's lyric.
Song and dance as a form of vaudeville act is attested from 1872; fig. sense of "rigmarole" is from 1895.
[sawng] 