Etymologically
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candle

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkænd(ə)l/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English candel, inherited from Old English candel (“lamp, lantern, candle”),[2][3] an early church borrowing from Latin candēla (“a light, torch, candle”),[3][2] from candeō (“to shine, glow, be white”) (see candid),[3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *kand- (“to shine”).[3][2] The Latin word was reinforced in Middle English by Old French candeile and candelle.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cylinder of wax or tallow around a wick, burned for light: before 700 in the OED;[6] Barnhart has the compound candeltwist, a candle-snuffer, about 700, and candel about 725, in Beowulf.[2] According to the OED it came into English with Christianity.[2]

Semantic evolution

Candles were unknown in ancient Greece, where oil lamps sufficed, but common early among the Romans and Etruscans.[3] The word was used poetically of the sun, moon and stars from 937.[6] Not worth the candle (late 17th century) translates French le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle, a card game not worth the cost of the candles to play it by.[4] Cannot hold a candle to (mid-16th century) comes from an assistant holding a candle for a master at work, or perhaps from candles carried in church ceremonies;[4][3] to burn the candle at both ends is recorded from 1730.[3] The verb, to test an egg by holding it against a light, is in modern dictionaries.[7]

Timeline

  • before 700 – candel.[6]
  • c. 725 – candel in Beowulf.[2]
  • 937 – the sun as a candle (poetic).[6]
  • c. 970 – candlestick.[2]
  • 1730 – burn the candle at both ends.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A cylinder of wax, tallow or the like around a wick, burned to give light.
  2. (physics) A former unit of luminous intensity; the candela.

Verb

  1. To examine an egg by holding it in front of a bright light.

Word family

  • candler
  • candelabrum
  • candela
  • candid
  • candidate
  • chandelier
  • chandler
  • chandlery
  • incandescent
  • Candlemas

Usage notes

The Latin word is also the source of French chandelle, Spanish candela, Irish coinneal and Welsh canwyll,[3] and through French of chandelier and chandler.[4]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin