English
distillation
Distillation comes from Latin distīllātiō, from dēstillō ‘to drip or trickle down’, and ultimately from stīlla ‘a drop of a dense, viscous liquid or other…’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstīlla‘a drop of a dense, viscous liquid or other non-natural substance’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEstīllō‘to drip, drop, trickle’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēstillōas distīllō‘to drip or trickle down’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdistīllātiōas distīllātiōnem
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400distillacioun
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1597distillation
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstīlla‘a drop of a dense, viscous liquid or other non-natural substance’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEstīllō‘to drip, drop, trickle’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēstillōas distīllō‘to drip or trickle down’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdistīllātiōas distīllātiōnem
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400distillacioun
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1597distillation
Earliest quotation: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “to be stopped in, like a strong distillation, with…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ster- ‘stiff’
start, street, strength, stronger, strongly, strongest, straw, stare, stern, stereo, cholesterol, throttle, torpedo, starve, sterile, strenuous, sterility, 15 more
through Latin stīlla ‘a drop of a dense, viscous liquid or other…’
through Latin stīllō ‘to drip, drop, trickle’
Today it means
noun The act of falling in drops, or the act of pouring out in drops.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin stīlla / distillation