Etymologically
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compile

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Pronunciation

  • /kəmˈpaɪl/[1]

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

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