English
oil
Oil comes from Middle English oyle, from Old French oile, from Latin oleum ‘oil’, from Ancient Greek ἔλαιον ‘olive oil’, from ἐλαία ‘olive’.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἐλαία‘olive’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEἔλαιονélaion‘olive oil’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoleum‘oil, olive oil’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400oile
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500oyle‘olive oil’
- Englishearliest quotation 1973oil
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἐλαία‘olive’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEἔλαιονélaion‘olive oil’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoleum‘oil, olive oil’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400oile
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500oyle‘olive oil’
- Englishearliest quotation 1973oil
Earliest quotation: 1973, John Ulric Nef, Search for meaning: the autobiography of a nonconformist: “Yet, in another way, I was unable to put…”
The story
Supplanted Middle English ele (‘oil’), from Old English ele (‘oil’), also from Latin.
Linked words
through Ancient Greek ἔλαιον ‘olive oil’
through Latin oleum ‘oil, olive oil’
through Middle English oyle ‘olive oil’
Another origin of oil
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*élaiwonreconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἔλαιονélaion‘olive oil, commonly used as an anointing oil’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoleum‘olive oil’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEolea‘olive (fruit)’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400oile
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500oyle‘Olive oil’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500oylen‘to apply oil’
- Englishtodayoil
Today it means
noun Liquid fat.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek ἐλαία / oil