Etymologically
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oil

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɔɪl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English olie, later oile,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman olie and oile (“oil”), modern French huile,[4][2][5] and directly from Latin oleum (“oil, olive oil”),[2][4] from Ancient Greek ἔλαιον (élaion, “olive oil”), from ἐλαία (elaía, “olive”),[4][6][7] the source of olive.[4][8] Klein thinks the Greek word probably of Aegean, most likely Cretan, origin.[9] The French word replaced Old English ele, an earlier borrowing of the Latin word,[8][4] and nearly all European words for oil, including German Öl and Welsh olew, come from the Greek through Latin.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Olive oil: the late 12th century,[4] or about 1175;[3] probably before 1200 as eoile, in the Ancrene Riwle.[2]

Semantic evolution

Until about 1300 the word meant olive oil exclusively, and then was extended to any fatty, greasy liquid.[4][8] Holy oil for anointing is from about 1305.[3] Lamp oil gave burn the midnight oil, from the mid-17th century.[10] Petroleum is recorded as oil from the 1520s, but not commonly until the 19th century.[4] Artists' oils, short for oil-colour, are from the 1660s, and oil painting by the 1690s.[4] The verb “to anoint, smear with oil” is from the mid-15th century, later “to lubricate”.[4][3] To oil someone's hand, “to bribe”, is from 1602.[3] Pour oil on troubled waters is by 1840, from a sailors' trick.[4] The oil tanker is from 1900, and oil spill by 1924.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1175 – olive oil.[3]
  • c. 1300 – any oily liquid.[4]
  • c. 1440 – verb, to anoint, lubricate.[3]
  • 1520s – petroleum.[4]
  • 1660s – an artist's oils.[4]
  • mid-17th century – burn the midnight oil.[10]
  • 1840 – oil on troubled waters.[4]
  • 1900 – oil tanker.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Any of numerous greasy, flammable liquids, from animals, plants or minerals, that do not mix with water.
  2. Petroleum; a product of it, such as fuel or lubricant.
  3. An oil paint; a painting done in oil paints.

Verb

  1. To lubricate, cover or polish with oil.

Word family

  • oilless
  • oillike
  • oilbird
  • oilcloth
  • oiler
  • olive
  • oleaginous
  • petroleum
  • linoleum
  • olio

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press