Oil Etymology

Etymology

First attested in English 1176, the word oil comes from Old French "oile", from Latin "oleum",[2] which in turn comes from the Greek "ἔλαιον" (elaion), "oliveoil, oil"[3] and that from "ἐλαία" (elaia), "olive tree".[4] The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek e-ra-wo, written in Linear B syllabic script.[5]Types

Organic oils
Organic oils are produced in remarkable diversity by plants, animals, and other organisms through natural metabolic processes. Lipid is the scientificterm for the fatty acids, steroids and similar chemicals often found in the oils produced by living things, while oil refers to an overall mixture of chemicals. Organic oilsmay also contain chemicals other than lipids, including proteins, waxes and alkaloids.
Lipids can be classified by the way that they are made by an organism, their chemicalstructure and their limited solubility in water compared to oils. They have a high carbon and hydrogen content and are considerably lacking in oxygen compared to other organiccompounds and minerals; they tend to be relatively nonpolar molecules, but may include both polar and nonpolar regions as in the case of phospholipids and steroids.[6]Mineral oils
Crude oil, or petroleum, and its refined components, collectively termed petrochemicals, are crucial resources in the modern economy. Crude oil originates fromancient fossilized organic materials, such as zooplankton and algae, which geochemical processes convert into oil.[7] It is classified as a mineral oil because it does not have anorganic origin on human timescales, but is instead obtained from rocks, underground traps, or sands. Mineral oil also refers to several specific distillates of crude oil.