soil
Soil, to make dirty, and soil, the earth, are distinct words, both from French, though they have influenced each other.[1][2][3]
Pronunciation
- IPA: /sɔɪl/[4]
soil1 make dirty
Etymology
The verb is inherited from Middle English soillen, borrowed from Old French souillier (“to make dirty; originally, to wallow”),[3][2][5] from souil “tub, wild boar's wallow, pigsty”.[3][2] This is either from Latin solium (“tub for bathing, seat”), related to sit,[2][3] or from Latin suculus “little pig” or suile “pigsty”, from sūs (“pig”).[3][5][6] Barnhart says the second view has been superseded by von Wartburg's work in the FEW.[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
To defile or pollute with sin: the early 13th century, before 1250 in the Ancrene Riwle.[3][2]
Semantic evolution
The literal sense, to make dirty on the surface, is attested from about 1300.[3] A noun soil, a muddy place or a wild boar's wallow, and in hunting a pool where a hunted deer takes refuge, is from the early 15th century,[3][6] and filth, refuse or excrement from about 1600, partly as a native formation from the verb.[3] This is the soil of the plumber's soil pipe (by 1833) and of archaic night-soil.[3]
Timeline
- a. 1250 – to defile with sin.[2]
- c. 1300 – to make dirty.[3]
- early 15th century – a muddy wallow.[3]
- c. 1600 – filth, excrement.[3]
- 1833 – soil pipe.[3]
Modern meaning
Verb
- To make dirty, especially on the surface.
- To spoil a person's reputation; to tarnish.
- To dirty with excrement.
Noun
- Dirt, filth or sewage.
soil2 earth
Etymology
The earth is inherited from Middle English sol, soyle, borrowed from Anglo-Norman soil (“piece of ground, place”),[3][2][5] from Latin solium (“seat”), influenced in meaning by Latin solum “ground, base, floor”.[2][5][7] Etymonline describes it as a merger of three Old French words: sol “ground”, from solum; soeul “threshold, place”, from solium; and soille “a miry place”.[3] It is related to sole and sit.[2][5]
Earliest recorded meaning
Land, an area or place: about 1300 in Etymonline, before 1300 in Barnhart.[3][2]
Semantic evolution
The earth or ground is from the late 14th century,[3] and mould or earth, especially that in which plants grow, from the mid-15th.[3] One's native land, as in foreign soil, is from about 1400, and this was the original sense of the word.[3][1][8]
Timeline
Modern meaning
Noun
- The top layer of the earth in which plants grow, made of rock particles mixed with humus.
- A particular kind of earth: sandy soil.
- A country or territory: on foreign soil.
- A place where something can grow and develop.
Related words
- solum
- sully
- sole
Usage notes
An obsolete verb soil, “to absolve” or “to solve a problem”, from Old French soudre and Latin solvere, was used until the 17th century; compare assoil.[6]
References
- ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press