libation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English libacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin lībātiō (“a drink offering”),^[5][4][6][7] a noun of action from lībātus, the past participle of lībō (“to pour out as an offering”).^[8][4][6] Klein, Barnhart, Hoad and Dictionary.com connect the Latin verb with Ancient Greek λείβω (leíbō, “to pour”) and λοιβή (loibḗ, “drink offering”),^[6][3][9][7] and Klein and Etymonline trace them to an enlargement of a root meaning to pour or flow, also seen in Lithuanian lieti (“to pour”).^[6][8] De Vaan rejects the Greek comparison: for him those Greek words only underwent a similar shift of meaning, the verb may be formed from lībum (“sacrificial cake”), and its root is Proto-Indo-European *h₂libʰ-, shared with ἀλείφω (aleíphō, “to anoint”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pouring out of wine or other liquid to honour a god, or the liquid so poured: the OED's first record is the early version of the Wycliffite Bible (1382), Ezekiel 20:28,^[5] where the Middle English Dictionary dates the same passage to about 1384 and quotes "sacrefieden her libaciouns", rendering the Latin libationes.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defines both the act of pouring wine on the ground for a deity and the wine itself.^[11] From 1751, in the Earl of Orrery's remarks on Swift, it was also used jokingly of any liquid poured out to be drunk,^[5][3][8] and Collins now labels the sense of an alcoholic drink as usually facetious.^[12] A figurative use followed in 1782, in Cowper's Retirement.^[5]

Timeline

• 1382 – the pouring out of wine or other liquid in honour of a god; the liquid itself.^[5]
• 1751 – jocular, liquid poured out to be drunk.^[5][3][8]
• 1776 – attributive use, in Burney's General History of Music.^[5]
• 1782 – figurative use, in Cowper.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The pouring out of wine or another liquid as an offering to a deity, or on the ground or a victim in a sacrifice.^[12][13][5]
2. The liquid poured out in this way.^[12][13][5]
3. (usually facetious) An alcoholic drink: We retired to the terrace with our evening libations.^[12][14]

Word family

• libationary
• libational

Related words

• libate
• libatory

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press