Etymologically
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gallon

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɡælən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English galoun, borrowed from Old Northern French galon (the Anglo-Norman galun),[2][3][4][5][6] which corresponds to Central Old French jalon, a measure for liquids.[4][3][7] The French word is related to jale (“bowl”) and to jalaie (“a measure of capacity”),[3][5][8] and goes back to Medieval Latin galleta (“bucket, pail; a measure of wine”), of uncertain origin.[3][4][9] Barnhart and Etymonline suggest it may come from Gaulish galla (“vessel”),[3][4] and several dictionaries call it perhaps Celtic.[10][6][11][12] Skeat and Partridge take the French word as an augmentative.[8][13] The same medieval Latin base gave Old English ġellet (“dish, basin”) and German Gelte (“bucket”).[12][14] The modern French gallon is borrowed back from English.[7] Johnson (1755) derived the word from Low Latin.[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

An English measure of capacity, mainly for liquids: about 1225, spelled galun, in King Horn, in Barnhart;[3] the OED's first quotation is from about 1300,[2] Etymonline dates it to the late 13th century and Merriam-Webster to the 13th century.[4][5] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary records the word in Anglo-Norman from the early 13th century, both for the measure and for a gallon jar.[16]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word also named a vessel for liquids, as in the Wycliffite Bible, where it translates Latin lagena (a1382–1459);[2][14] that sense is obsolete.[2] Its use as a dry measure for corn, bread and other goods is recorded from 1684,[2] and survived in the dialects of Kent, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Cambridgeshire, where potatoes and fruit were sold by the gallon.[17] The figurative plural gallons, a great quantity, is recorded from 1575.[2][11] Johnson (1755) defined it as a liquid measure of four quarts.[15] The British imperial gallon and the smaller US gallon, based on the old wine gallon of 231 cubic inches, now differ by about a fifth.[2][11][5] In Irish slang, to get one's gallon meant to be dismissed from a job, from the can in which labourers carried their drink.[18]

Timeline

  • c. 1225 – galun, in King Horn.[3]
  • c. 1300 – a measure of capacity.[2]
  • a1382 – a vessel for liquids (obsolete).[2]
  • 1475 – the spelling gallon.[3]
  • 1575 – figurative, a large amount.[2]
  • 1684 – a dry measure for corn, bread and similar goods.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A unit of liquid capacity equal to four quarts: the imperial gallon used in Britain is about 4.55 litres, the US gallon about 3.79 litres.
  2. (Britain) A unit of dry capacity of the same size, used for grain and similar goods.
  3. (informal, plural) A great quantity: They drank gallons of coffee during the exam week.

Word family

  • gallonage
  • ten-gallon hat
  • wine gallon
  • quart
  • pint
  • gill
  • gantry

Usage notes

According to Ayto, an early modern dialect form gawn, combined with tree, gave gantry, originally a wooden stand for barrels.[19]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  14. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  18. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  19. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black