Etymologically
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odor

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈəʊ.də/[1]
  • US: /ˈoʊ.dɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English odour, also odur and odor,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman odour, also odur,[4][5][6][7] from Old French odor,[4][3][8] now odeur,[4][5] and directly borrowed from Latin odor (“smell, scent”).[4][3][2] The Anglo-Norman word, recorded in the 12th century, meant a pleasant or unpleasant smell.[9] Latin odor (early Latin odōs) is an s-stem noun related to oleō (“to give off a smell”), which earlier had -d- for -l-;[6][3] Etymonline ascribes the -l- to Sabine.[4] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- (“to smell”),[6] and is related to Ancient Greek ὄζω (ózō, “to smell”) and Lithuanian úosti (“to smell, sniff”).[5][3][4][6] Words from the same root include olfactory, redolent and osmium.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A smell, especially a sweet one, a scent or fragrance: before 1300, in The Land of Cokaygne (as odur) and in Kyng Alisaunder (as odour).[3][4][10]

Semantic evolution

From the late 14th century the word was used neutrally of the smell of something, whether pleasant or not;[4][2] from 1388 it also meant a substance giving off a sweet smell, a perfume.[10][11] In Middle English it also had the figurative sense of the spiritual fragrance of Christ's sacrifice.[4] The odour of sanctity (1756) follows odeur de sainteté, the sweet smell said to come from the bodies of saints;[4][10][11] in good or bad odour, for good or bad reputation, dates from 1835.[4][10] The Century Dictionary (1895) noted that the word alone usually meant a pleasant smell,[4] and Dictionary.com notes that in figurative use it is mostly positive.[12]

Timeline

  • before 1300 – odur, odour, a smell, especially a sweet one.[3][10]
  • before 1325 – the spelling odor, in the Cursor Mundi.[3]
  • 1388 – a substance with a sweet smell, a perfume.[10]
  • 1756 – odour of sanctity.[4][10]
  • 1835 – good or bad repute.[4][10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A smell, pleasant or unpleasant, of a substance or place: the odor of fresh paint.[13][6][14]
  2. A strong, pervasive quality or trace: an odor of scandal.[13][14][11]
  3. Reputation or standing, in the phrases in good odor and in bad odor: The mayor was in bad odor with the voters.[13][14][11]
  4. odor of sanctity: the sweet smell said to come from a saint's body; hence a reputation for holiness, often ironic.[11][10]

Word family

  • odored
  • odorless
  • odorful
  • malodor
  • odorize
  • odorous
  • odour
  • olfactory
  • redolent
  • odoriferous
  • osmium

Usage notes

Odor is the American spelling, and British English writes odour.[6][14][12] The -our form prevailed after about 1300, and the American -or goes back to Noah Webster.[4] Dictionary.com distinguishes odor, smell, scent and stench: smell is the most general and neutral, while odor in figurative use is usually positive.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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 h 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  13. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins