Etymologically
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compiler

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 21:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /kəmˈpaɪlə/[1]
  • US: /kəmˈpaɪlɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English compilour,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman compilour, also compileor and compileur,[2][4][5] from Latin compīlātor,[2][4] which Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com give as Late Latin.[6][7] The Latin word is an agent noun from compīlō (“to plunder, rob”),[4][2] the source of compile, which Etymonline takes as originally "to bundle together, heap up", from com- (“with, together”) and pīlō (“to compress, ram down”).[4] Klein connects that verb with pīla (“pillar”).[8] The English word was later assimilated to nouns in -er.[2] Middle and early modern English also had compilator, directly from Latin, from about 1400.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A chronicler, one who makes a compilation: about 1330, in Mannyng's Chronicle, where a historian is called a compiloure.[2][3][4] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1280–1307.[5]

Semantic evolution

The OED notes that the history of compile is unclear: Latin compīlātor was used as a reproach against Virgil and is usually taken as "plunderer", but Isidore explained it as one who mixes other people's words with his own, as spice-makers pound different things together in a mortar.[2] In Middle English the word meant a chronicler or an author;[3] the sense of an original author or composer lasted until 1654.[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as one who makes a composition out of the work of various authors.[9] In 1713 Pope used it of a builder, a sense that did not last.[2] In computing, from 1953, a compiler is a routine or program that translates a program into machine code.[2][10][6]

Timeline

  • c. 1330 – a chronicler, one who compiles.[2][3]
  • c. 1400 – compilator, a plagiarist or compiler.[4]
  • before 1500 – an original author or composer (obsolete by 1654).[2]
  • 1713 – a builder (obsolete).[2]
  • 1953 – in computing, a program that translates other programs into machine code.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person who compiles information or material from various sources into a book, list or the like: the compiler of a local bus timetable.[10][6][2]
  2. (computing) A program that translates source code written in a high-level programming language into machine language.[10][6][2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins