'songwriting' originates from English, specifically a compound of 'song' and 'writing', where 'song' comes from Old English 'sang' meaning 'a singing, song', and 'writing' comes from Old English 'writan' meaning 'to scratch, write'.

'song' changed from Old English 'sang' to Middle English 'song' and eventually to modern English 'song'; 'write' evolved from Old English 'writan' to Middle English 'writen' and then to modern English 'write', forming the compound 'songwriting' in modern usage.

Initially, 'song' meant 'a sung piece' and 'writan' meant 'to mark or scratch (a message)'; over time the combined sense developed into the modern meaning 'the act or craft of composing songs'.