Etymograph

English

bottle

Bottle comes from Middle English botel, from Old French boteille, from Late Latin butticula ‘bottle’, a diminutive of buttis ‘cask’.

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEbuttis‘cask’
  2. Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEbutticula‘bottle’diminutive of buttis
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400boteille
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500botel‘bottle, flask’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1795bottle

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEbuttis‘cask’
  2. Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEbutticula‘bottle’diminutive of buttis
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400boteille
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500botel‘bottle, flask’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1795bottle

Earliest quotation: 1795, Gammer Gurton's Garland, The Nursery Parnassus: “Jack and Gill Went up the hill, To fetch…”

The story

Partially displaced Old English flasce.

Every English word from Late Latin buttis

Another origin of bottle

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰōw-literally ‘to swell, grow, thrive, be, live, dwell’uncertain
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bōþl‘house, dwelling’uncertain
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150botl‘building, house’
  4. Englishtodaybottle

Today it means

noun A container, typically made of glass or plastic and having a tapered neck, used primarily for holding liquids.

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

Etymograph / Late Latin buttis / bottle

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