Etymologically
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oleum

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɔ.ɫe.ũː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɔː.le.um][1]

Forms

oleum n (genitive oleī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἔλαιον (élaion, “olive oil”), from ἐλαία (elaía, “olive tree”).[2][1][3] The TLL explains that it was borrowed early, with the same sound changes as deus beside dīvus, from an earlier ⟨olīvom⟩.[4][2] Köbler says the Greek is a loan from an unknown Mediterranean source.[5] Isidore derives it from ⟨olea⟩ “olive tree”.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Plautus, whom he dates c. 250–184 BC, and Plautus has the proverb oleō tranquillior “calmer than oil”.[5][7]

Semantic evolution

It meant olive oil, and Columella distinguishes oleum acerbum and oleum viride from unripe and half-ripe olives.[2] It was used in lamps, so that oleum et operam perdere “to waste oil and effort” meant to work in vain, as in Cicero.[2] Wrestlers greased their skin with it, so in Virgil it stands for wrestling, and Vitruvius applies it to other oils.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant oil.[8] It survives in Italian olio and Old French oile, the source through Anglo-French of English oil in the late 12th century; nearly all European words for oil go back to it.[1][3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has oleō tranquillior.[7][5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato writes on oil.[9][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses oleum et operam perdere.[2][5]
  • late 12th century – English oil is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Olive oil.[2]
  2. Lamp oil, oleum et operam perdere, to waste one's pains.[2]
  3. Oil for anointing; wrestling.[2]
  4. Any oil.[2]

Word family

  • olea
  • oleāmen
  • oleāmentum
  • oleāris
  • oleārius
  • oleātus
  • oleōsus
  • oleāceus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press