soil English · revision 5202
16 Oct 2026, 02:09 by bogdan “en10k b0198: belt … trash” current version
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+ Soil, to make dirty, and soil, the earth, are distinct words, both from French, though they have influenced each other.^(Cresswell 2021)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /sɔɪl/^(Roach et al. 2011)
+
+ {{homograph|1|make dirty}}
+
+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=borrowing|attested=a. 1250|origins=fro souil}}
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ The verb is [[inh|enm|soilen|alt=soillen]], [[bor|fro|soillier|alt=souillier|t=to make dirty; originally, to wallow]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from souil “tub, wild boar's wallow, pigsty”.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) This is either from [[la|solium|t=tub for bathing, seat]], related to [[sit]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) or from Latin suculus “little pig” or suile “pigsty”, from [[m|la|sūs|t=pig]].^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) Barnhart says the second view has been superseded by von Wartburg's work in the FEW.^(Barnhart 1988)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ To defile or pollute with sin: the early 13th century, before 1250 in the Ancrene Riwle.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The literal sense, to make dirty on the surface, is attested from about 1300.^(Etymonline) 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,^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) and filth, refuse or excrement from about 1600, partly as a native formation from the verb.^(Etymonline) This is the soil of the plumber's ''soil pipe'' (by 1833) and of archaic ''night-soil''.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * a. 1250 – to defile with sin.^(Barnhart 1988)
+ * c. 1300 – to make dirty.^(Etymonline)
+ * early 15th century – a muddy wallow.^(Etymonline)
+ * c. 1600 – filth, excrement.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1833 – ''soil pipe''.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Verb===
+ # To make dirty, especially on the surface.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+ # To spoil a person's reputation; to [[tarnish]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+ # To dirty with [[excrement]].^(AHD)
+
+ ===Noun===
+ # Dirt, filth or [[sewage]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+
+ {{homograph|2|earth}}
+
+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1300|origins=la solium}}
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ The earth is [[inh|enm|soil|alt=sol, soyle]], [[bor|xno|soil|t=piece of ground, place]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from [[la|solium|t=seat]], influenced in meaning by Latin solum “ground, base, floor”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986) 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”.^(Etymonline) It is related to [[sole]] and [[sit]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Land, an area or place: about 1300 in Etymonline, before 1300 in Barnhart.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The earth or ground is from the late 14th century,^(Etymonline) and mould or earth, especially that in which plants grow, from the mid-15th.^(Etymonline) One's native land, as in ''foreign soil'', is from about 1400, and this was the original sense of the word.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)^(OED 1989)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 1300 – land, place.^(Etymonline)
+ * c. 1400 – one's native land.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+ * mid-15th century – earth for plants.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # The top layer of the earth in which plants grow, made of rock particles mixed with [[humus]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+ # A particular kind of earth: ''sandy soil''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+ # A country or territory: ''on foreign soil''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+ # A place where something can grow and develop.^(AHD)
+
+ ==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]].^(SOED 2002)
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}