Etymograph

English

bile

Bile comes from Middle French bile, and goes back to Proto-Italic *bistli-.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*bistli-reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbīlis
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600bile
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1616same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*bistli-reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbīlis
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600bile
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1616same form

Earliest quotation: 1616, Alexander Roberts: “He spake out of the Pythonesse, Act. 16. 17.…”

The story

Partially displaced native English gall (‘bile’), from Middle English galle, from Old English galla, ġealla (‘gall, bile’).

Linked words

through Latin bīlis

biliary, bilious, 1 more

Another origin of bile

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰew-‘to blow’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*būlǭ‘swelling’reconstructed
  3. Englishtodaybile

Today it means

noun A bitter brownish-yellow or greenish-yellow secretion produced by the liver, stored in the gall bladder, and discharged into the duodenum where it aids the process of digestion.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *bistli- / bile

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