alcoholn.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin alcohol, alcool, alcol, alcofol kohl (galena (lead sulphide) or stibnite (antimony sulphide)) (from 13th cent. in British sources), spirit, essence obtained by distillation (a1527 in Paracelsus in alcool vini , also alcohol vini ) (perhaps via Spanish alcohol : see below) < Arabic al-kuḥl , Spanish Arabic al-kuḥul < al the + kuḥl , Spanish Arabic kuḥul eye cosmetic, also denoting various specific substances used as eye cosmetics or eye unguents (compare kohl n.¹) < the same base as Arabic kaḥala, Hebrew kāḥal (in the Bible only in an isolated attestation in Ezekiel 23:40), both in sense ‘to stain, to paint’, Akkadian guḫlu antimony (used as eye paint). Compare Middle French alcohol, (rare) alcofol, French alcool, †alcohol, †alcol, †alkol, †alkool, etc., the chief senses of which are: ‘kohl, very fine powder’ (c1370 in a translation of Chauliac; the precise sense is often difficult to determine in early quots.), ‘essence obtained by distillation’ (1620, originally and chiefly with reference to spirit of wine), ‘ethanol’ (1792), ‘any of the members of a similar class of chemical compounds’ (1834: see note below). Compare also Spanish alcohol (c1200 as †alcofor; also †alcofol, †alcool, †alcol, etc.), the chief senses of which are: ‘powder used as eye cosmetic’ (c1200 as †alcofor), ‘galena, sulphide of lead’ (1541), ‘antimony, also any of various minerals containing antimony, especially stibnite’ (a1555 or earlier; in a number of early instances denoting minerals (from the second half of the 12th cent.) it is impossible to tell whether the word denotes galena (sulphide of lead) or antimony sulphide), ‘spirit of wine, ethanol’ (1730), ‘any of the members of a similar class of chemical compounds’ (1865). Compare also Catalan alcofoll kohl (1249), alcohol spirit of wine (17th cent.), Portuguese álcool (1712; 1691 as †alcohol), Italian alcool (14th cent. (as †alcocol, †alcocollo, †alcoel, alcool, in a small number of attestations) in sense ‘fine powder’, 1732 in sense ‘spirit of wine’); also Dutch alcohol (1663 in sense ‘fine powder’, 1736 in sense ‘spirit of wine’), German Alkohol (1525 in Paracelsus as alkool in sense ‘fine powder, essence’, early 19th cent. in sense ‘intoxicating element in fermented liquors, ethanol’).The substance described at sense 1b was denoted in Hellenistic Greek by πλατυόϕθαλμον , literally ‘eye-widening substance’. In some quots. in sense 1b, e.g. in quot. 1819, the English word is directly < the ulterior Arabic etymon. In alcohol of wine at sense 2a after post-classical Latin alcool vini (see above). In sense 3, short for alcohol of wine at sense 2a, this being the most familiar of rectified spirits. This sense is not paralleled in Arabic. In sense 4 after French alcool (1834 in this sense, earliest with reference to methyl alcohol: J. Dumas & E. Péligot, in Ann. de chim. et de physique 58 74; for earlier senses, see above). In form alcofoll (see quot. 1543 at sense 1a) after Spanish †alcofol, †alcofoll (late 13th cent.) or Catalan alcofoll (1249), both in sense ‘kohl’.