alcohol

Etymology

The word is borrowed from Medieval Latin alcohol (“powdered ore of antimony”),^[1][2] from Arabic اَلْكُحْل (al-kuḥl, “the kohl”),^[2][1] from al- “the” + kuḥl, the fine powder used to darken the eyelids,^[1][3] from kaḥala “to stain, paint”.^[3][1] Recorded in English from the 1540s in the sense “fine powder”.^[1][4]

Paracelsus used the word both for a fine powder and for a volatile liquid.^[1] The sense “intoxicating ingredient in strong liquor” is attested by 1753, short for alcohol of wine.^[1] Doublet of kohl.^[5]

References

1. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
2. [1] [2] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. [1] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. [1] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org