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Origin and history of glue

glue(n.)

"viscous adhesive substance," early 13c., from Old French glu "glue, birdlime" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *glutis or Late Latin glutem (nominative glus) "glue," from Latin gluten "glue, beeswax," from PIE *gleit- "to glue, paste" (source also of Lithuanian glitus "sticky," glitas "mucus;" Old English cliða "plaster"), from root *glei- "clay," also forming words with a sense of "to stick together" (see clay). Formerly also glew. In reference to glue from boiled animal hoofs and hides, c. 1400. Glue-sniffing attested from 1963.

glue(v.)

"join or fasten with glue," late 14c., from Old French gluer, gluier "smear with glue; join together," from glu "glue, birdlime" (see glue (n.)). Related: Glued; gluing.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to glue

clay(n.)

Old English clæg "stiff, sticky earth; clay," from Proto-Germanic *klaijaz (source also of Old High German kliwa "bran," German Kleie, Old Frisian klai, Old Saxon klei, Middle Dutch clei, Danish klæg "clay;" also Old English clæman, Old Norse kleima, Old High German kleiman "to cover with clay").

Some sources see these as being from a common PIE root meaning "slime; glue" also forming words for "clay" and verbs for "stick together." Compared words include Latin gluten "glue, beeswax;" Greek gloios "sticky matter;" Lithuanian glitus "sticky," glitas "mucus;" Old Church Slavonic glina "clay," glenu "slime, mucus;" Old Irish glenim "I cleave, adhere;" Old English cliða "plaster." But Beekes writes that "Not all comparisons are convincing," and notes that most words cited are from Balto-Slavic or Germanic, "which suggests European substrate origin."

In Scripture, the stuff from which the body of the first man was formed; hence "human body" (especially when dead). As an adjective, "formed of clay," 1520s. Clay-pigeon "saucer of baked clay used as a flying target in trap-shooting," in place of live birds, is from 1881. Feet of clay "fundamental weakness" is from Daniel ii.33.

agglutinate(v.)

1580s, "unite or cause to adhere," from Latin agglutinatus, past participle of agglutinare "fasten with glue," from ad "to" (see ad-) + glutinare "to glue," from gluten "glue" (from PIE *glei-; see glue (n.)). Related: Agglutinated; agglutinating. Perhaps suggested by the earlier use of the same word in English as a past-participle adjective (1540s) "united as by glue," from the Latin past participle.

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Trends of glue

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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gluten
1630s, "a sticky substance," from French gluten "sticky substance" (16c.) or directly from Latin gluten (glutin-) "glue" (see glue (n.)). Used 16c.-19c. for the part of animal tissue now called fibrin; used since 1803 of the nitrogenous part of the flour of wheat or other grain;
gum
c. 1300, "resin from dried sap of plants," from Old French gome "(medicinal) gum, resin," from Late Latin gumma, from Latin gummi, from Greek kommi "gum," from Egyptian kemai. As the name of a hardened, sweetened gelatine mixture as a candy, 1827. As a shortened form of chewing g
paste
c. 1300 (mid-12c. as a surname), "dough for the making of bread or pastry," from Old French paste "dough, pastry" (13c., Modern French pâte), from Late Latin pasta "dough, pastry cake, paste" (see pasta). Meaning "glue mixture, dough used as a plaster seal" is attested from c. 14
conglutinate
Latin conglutinatus, past participle of conglutinare, from assimilated form of com "together" (see con-) + glutinare "to glue...," from gluten "glue," from PIE *glei- "clay," also forming words with a sense of "to stick together" (see clay)....
punch
is much used in composition to denote various mixtures of five things, as, panchamrit, a mixture of milk, curds, sugar, glue...
protocol
were written), from Greek prōtokollon "first sheet glued onto a manuscript," from prōtos "first" (see proto-) + kolla "glue...
attach
mid-14c. (mid-13c. in Anglo-Latin), "to take or seize (property or goods) by law," a legal term, from Old French atachier "fasten; arrest" (11c.), earlier estachier "to attach, fix; stake up, support" (Modern French attacher, also compare Italian attaccare), from a- "to" (see ad-
epoxy
1916, in reference to certain chemical compounds, from epi- + first element of oxygen. Epoxy- is used as a prefix in chemistry to indicate an oxygen atom that is linked to two carbon atoms of a chain, thus forming a "bridge" ("intramolecular connection" is one of the chemical use
cement
kind of mortar or other substance that hardens as it dries, used to bind, c. 1300, from Old French ciment "cement, mortar, pitch," from Latin cæmenta "stone chips used for making mortar" (singular caementum), from caedere "to cut down, chop, beat, hew, fell, slay" (from PIE root
spate
mid-15c., "a sudden flood, natural outpouring of water," especially one caused by heavy rains or a snowmelt, originally Scottish and northern English, a word of unknown origin. Perhaps from Old French espoit "flood," from Dutch spuiten "to flow, spout" and related to spout (v.).

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Dictionary entries near glue
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