<P> In Elizabethan English the quasi-New Latin term Johannes factotum ( `` Johnny do - it - all '' ) was sometimes used , with the same negative connotation that `` Jack of all trades '' sometimes has today . The term was famously used by Robert Greene in his 1592 booklet Greene 's Groats - Worth of Wit , in which he dismissively refers to actor - turned - playwright William Shakespeare with this term , the first published mention of the writer . </P>
<P> In Elizabethan English the quasi-New Latin term Johannes factotum ( `` Johnny do - it - all '' ) was sometimes used , with the same negative connotation that `` Jack of all trades '' sometimes has today . The term was famously used by Robert Greene in his 1592 booklet Greene 's Groats - Worth of Wit , in which he dismissively refers to actor - turned - playwright William Shakespeare with this term , the first published mention of the writer . </P>
where did jack of all trades come from
where did jack of all trades come from
Robert Greene
Robert Greene