Etymologically
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idol

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈaɪ.dəl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English idele, borrowed from Old French idele, later idole,[2][3][4][5] from Late Latin īdōlum (“image, form, apparition”), used in Church Latin for a false god,[2][3][4][6] from Ancient Greek εἴδωλον (eídōlon, “image, phantom, idol”),[2][3][4] from εἶδος (eîdos, “form, shape”) (see idea),[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *weidos, related to words for seeing and knowing (see wise).[2][5] The Germanic languages had first used a word for god with a prefix meaning “off”, such as Old English afgod.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An image of a deity used as an object of worship: about 1250, in The Story of Genesis and Exodus.[2][7][3]

Semantic evolution

The OED notes that the senses did not appear in English in the order of their development in Greek.[7] Polemical use for images of saints is from 1545.[7] Any object of excessive devotion has been called an idol since the mid-16th century, mostly in a condemning way:[8] a thing from 1557 and a person from 1591.[7] A statue or effigy (1548) is an obsolete sense.[7] The screen idol dates from the early 20th century, but nobody wanted to be a pop idol until near its end.[8] Idolatry is from the 13th century, idolater from the 16th,[4] and idolize from 1598.[2] Idyll also goes back to Greek eidos.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1250 – an image worshipped as a god.[2][7]
  • 1545 – images of saints (polemical).[7]
  • 1557 – an object of devotion.[7]
  • 1591 – an adored person.[7]
  • 1598 – idolize.[2]
  • early 20th century – screen idol.[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An image or other object worshipped as a god.
  2. A false god; in Christianity and Judaism, any being other than God given divine honour.
  3. A person or thing adored, often blindly or excessively: a pop idol.
  4. Something visible but without substance; a phantom.

Word family

  • idolatry
  • idolize
  • idolism
  • matinee idol
  • Moorish idol

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press