compile

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English compilen,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French compiler (“to put together, collect”),^{[4][5][6][7][8]} and probably also directly borrowed from Latin compīlō (“to plunder, rob, pillage”).^[5][7][9][2] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from about 1240.^[10] The Latin verb is formed from com- (“together”) and pīlō (“to compress, ram down”),^[5][3][11] from pīla (“pillar; heap”),^[3][11][6] and probably meant at first "to heap up" or "to press together", hence "to pack up and carry off".^[5][3][11] The OED says the history is by no means clear: Latin compīlātor was used reproachfully of Vergil and usually taken as "plunderer", but Isidore explained it by the mixing of things in a mortar, and medieval Latin and Old French uses meaning "built, constructed" point to another origin.^[4] Weekley thinks the later sense was influenced by pile, a heap.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To compose a written work by putting together material from various sources: probably before 1325,^[3] early 14th century in Etymonline.^[5] The OED's first record is in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon (before 1387), which says "compiled and made þis present cronicle".^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

From the beginning the word referred to literary work: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales end with "compiled by Geffrey Chaucer".^[2] In the 15th and 16th centuries it could also mean simply to compose an original work, and to translate;^[4] Johnson (1755) still gave "to write; to compose" as a second sense.^[13] Between the late 16th and early 19th centuries it was used for heaping things up or building them,^[4] and cricket slang revived this as "to pile up" runs in 1884.^[4] In computing, from 1952, a program is compiled when it is turned into machine code.^[4][14]

Timeline

• before 1325 – compilen, to compile a written work.^[3]
• before 1387 – to make a book from collected materials (Trevisa).^[4][2]
• c. 1425 – to collect materials into a volume.^[4]
• 1426 – compilation.^[3]
• 1477 – to compose an original work (obsolete by 1598).^[4]
• 1578 – to heap together (obsolete by 1812).^[4]
• 1884 – cricket slang, to score runs.^[4]
• 1952 – computing, to produce machine code from a program.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To collect information or items from various sources and put them together in a list, report or book: They compiled a list of local suppliers.^[14][15][4]
2. To produce a book or other work by putting together such material.^[14][15][4]
3. (computing) To translate a program written in a high-level language into machine code, using a compiler.^[14][4]
4. (obsolete, 1477–1598) To compose or write an original work.^[4][2][13]

Word family

• uncompiled
• compilation
• precompile
• recompile
• compiler

Related words

• pile
• pillage

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster