opal

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin opalus, a word found in Pliny,^[2][3][4][5] used in its Latin form in Middle English from the late 14th century;^[3][4][2] the later forms were partly shaped by Middle French opalle and opale.^[2][3][4] The Latin is from Ancient Greek ὀπάλλιος (opállios),^[2][3][6] probably from Sanskrit उपल (upala, “stone, precious stone”), since the stone was first brought from India.^[2][7][8][9] The American Heritage Dictionary and Klein relate the Sanskrit word to Sanskrit words meaning lower and under.^[7][6] Anglo-Norman had a different form, Anglo-Norman optal (about 1120), with a t probably taken from Ancient Greek ὀφθαλμός (ophthalmós, “eye”), as the stone was thought to be good for the eyes.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The gemstone: before 1398, in the Latin form opalus, in John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.^[2][3] The English form is dated about 1586 by Merriam-Webster,^[10] to the 1590s by Etymonline,^[3] and to 1598, in Florio's A World of Words, by Barnhart.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The name of the stone was soon used for its look and colour (1576), and figuratively of changing colours (1605, now rare).^[2] As an adjective it described things like or made of opal, as in Sidney's Arcadia (before 1586) and Milton's Paradise Lost (1667).^[2] Later uses include opal glass (1885), a light bulb of translucent white glass (1904), and in molecular biology the stop codon UGA (1970).^[2] In Australia, where opal is mined, the dictionaries record opal dirt and opal gouger, an opal miner.^[11] As a girl's name, Opal is one of the gemstone names taken up in the late 19th century.^[12]

Timeline

• before 1398 – the gemstone, in the Latin form opalus.^[2][3]
• 1576 – the colour or look of an opal.^[2]
• before 1586 – adjective, like an opal.^[2][10]
• 1598 – opale, in Florio.^[4]
• 1667 – adjective, made of opal, in Milton.^[2]
• 1885 – opal glass.^[2]
• 1970 – in molecular biology, the stop codon UGA.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mineral of hydrated silica, softer than quartz and often iridescent, used as a gemstone.^{[5][10][13][2]}
2. Opal glass, a translucent white glass.^[10][2][11]

Adjective

1. Like an opal in colour; opalescent.^[2][14]

Word family

• opaline
• opalescent
• opaleye
• opalesce
• black opal
• fire opal
• opal glass

Usage notes

Brewer explained the belief that the opal is unlucky by deriving it from the Greek word for eye: like a peacock's feather full of eyes, it was thought to spy on the household.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Yule, Henry; Burnell, A. C. (1903), Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, new ed. by William Crooke, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Moore, Bruce, ed. (2004), The Australian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Melbourne: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Hanks, Patrick; Hodges, Flavia (2002), "A Dictionary of First Names", in The Oxford Names Companion, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
14. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Brewer, E. Cobham (1898), Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, new ed., London: Cassell