Everyday LifeGreek → English
Oenophile
/ˈiːnəfaɪl/noun
Someone with a serious, studied enthusiasm for wine.
The Greek roots
οἶνος
oînos
wine
φίλος
phílos
loving, fond of
Literally: “wine lover”
The story of the word
οἶνος is the ordinary Homeric word for wine, and it sits inside the Iliad's epithet for the sea, οἶνοψ, wine-faced. French assembled oenophile in the nineteenth century for the connoisseur, and English took it whole rather than translating it. Oenology, the study rather than the affection, followed the same road.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French → English
- First recorded
- 20th century
Same family
oenologybibliophilephilanthropyphilosophy
In a sentence
Her father is enough of an oenophile to keep a notebook on every bottle he opens.