elebeam
The English word 'olive' is translated into Old English as elebeam.
elebeam means the olive tree, literally "oil tree": ele (oil) was borrowed early from Latin oleum.
Meaning: olive tree (noun)
Did you know?
- Old English speakers used elebeam to describe a plant that did not grow in England, as the climate was too cold for olive trees.
- In the transition to Middle English, the word elebeam was replaced by 'olive', which was borrowed from Old French.
- The word bēam in elebeam is the direct ancestor of the modern English word 'beam', though it originally meant 'tree'.
