Oil

Oil is a liquid with varying degrees of viscosity depending on temperature. Oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated lipids that are liquid at room temperature.

The general definition of oil includes classes of chemical compounds that may be otherwise unrelated in structure, properties, and uses. Oils may be animal, vegetable, or petrochemical in origin, and may be volatile or non-volatile.[1] They are used for food (e.g., olive oil), fuel (e.g., heating oil), medical purposes (e.g., mineral oil), lubrication (e.g. motor oil), and the manufacture of many types of paints, plastics, and other materials. Specially prepared oils are used in some religious ceremonies and rituals as purifying agents.

## Contents

* 1 Etymology
* 2 Types
* 2.1 Organic oils
* 2.2 Mineral oils
* 3 Applications
* 3.1 Cooking
* 3.2 Cosmetics
* 3.3 Religion
* 3.4 Health
* 3.5 Painting
* 3.6 Heat transfer
* 3.7 Lubrication
* 3.8 Fuel
* 3.9 Chemical feedstock
* 4 See also
* 5 Notes
* 6 References
* 7 External links

## Etymology

[lower-alpha 1] First usage in a form resembling the modern is [3] in Anglo-Norman [4] before (a)1300 in Land of Cokaygne [3] [lower-alpha 2] in Middle English from Old French oile [4] as a consequence of influence of Edward the Confessor (1042–1066) [8] and after the killing of King Harold on 14 October 1066 [9] after the 1066 invasion from Normandy, [8] the earliest extant source a translation from Latin during the 12th or 13th century (Marbode Lapidaire) [10][11] from Classical Latin oleum, [4][12] (the earliest extant source being: Plautus, Poenulus)[13] [lower-alpha 3] which in turn comes from the Greek ἔλαιον (elaion), "olive oil, oil"[25] and that from ἐλαία (elaia), "olive tree", "olive fruit".[26][12] "Olive oil" in Mycenaean Greek (transliteration) is e-rai-wo. [27]

## Types

### Organic oils

Organic oils are produced in remarkable diversity by plants, animals, and other organisms through natural metabolic processes. Lipid is the scientific term 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 oils may also contain chemicals other than lipids, including proteins, waxes (class of compounds with oil-like properties that are solid at common temperatures) and alkaloids.

Lipids can be classified by the way that they are made by an organism, their chemical structure 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 organic compounds 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.[28]

### Mineral oils

Main article: Chemistry:Mineral oil

Crude oil, or petroleum, and its refined components, collectively termed petrochemicals, are crucial resources in the modern economy. Crude oil originates from ancient fossilized organic materials, such as zooplankton and algae, which geochemical processes convert into oil.[29] The name "mineral oil" is a misnomer, in that minerals are not the source of the oil—ancient plants and animals are. Mineral oil is organic. However, it is classified as "mineral oil" instead of as "organic oil" because its organic origin is remote (and was unknown at the time of its discovery), and because it is obtained in the vicinity of rocks, underground traps, and sands. Mineral oil also refers to several specific distillates of crude oil.

## Applications

### Cooking

Edible vegetable and animal oils, as well as fats, are used for various purposes in cooking and food preparation. In particular, many foods are fried in oil much hotter than boiling water. Oils are also used for flavoring and for modifying the texture of foods (e.g. stir fry). Cooking oils are derived either from animal fat, as butter, lard and other types, or plant oils from olive, maize, sunflower and many other species.[30]

### Cosmetics

### Religion

Oil has been used throughout history as a religious medium. It is often considered a spiritually purifying agent and is used for anointing purposes. As a particular example, holy anointing oil has been an important ritual liquid for Judaism[31] and Christianity.[32]

### Health

Oils have been consumed since ancient times. Oils are rich in fats and may contain beneficial health properties. A good example is olive oil. Olive oil contains a high amount of fat, which is why it was also historically used for lighting in ancient Greece and Rome. So people would use it to bulk out food so they would have more energy to burn through the day. Olive oil was also used as a cleanser, as it helped retain moisture in the skin while drawing grime to the surface. It served as a primitive form of soap. It was applied on the skin then scrubbed off with a wooden stick pulling off the excess grime and creating a layer where new grime could form but be easily washed off in the water as oil is hydrophobic.[33] Fish oils hold the omega-3 fatty acid. This fatty acid helps with inflammation and reduces fat in the bloodstream.

### Painting

Color pigments are easily suspended in oil, making it suitable as a supporting medium for paints. The oldest known extant oil paintings date from 650 AD.[34]

### Heat transfer

See also: Chemistry:Transformer oil

### Lubrication

Synthetic motor oil

Given that they are non-polar, oils do not easily adhere to other substances. This makes them useful as lubricants for various engineering purposes. Mineral oils are more commonly used as machine lubricants than biological oils are. Whale oil is preferred for lubricating clocks, because it does not evaporate, leaving dust, although its use was banned in the US in 1980.[35]

It is a long-running myth that spermaceti from whales has still been used in NASA projects such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Voyager probe because of its extremely low freezing temperature. Spermaceti is not actually an oil, but a mixture mostly of wax esters, and there is no evidence that NASA has used whale oil.[36]

### Fuel

Main article: Chemistry:Fuel oil

Some oils burn in liquid or aerosol form, generating light, and heat which can be used directly or converted into other forms of energy such as electricity or mechanical work. In order to obtain many fuel oils, crude oil is pumped from the ground and is shipped via oil tanker or a pipeline to an oil refinery. There, it is converted from crude oil to diesel fuel (petrodiesel), ethane (and other short-chain alkanes), fuel oils (heaviest of commercial fuels, used in ships/furnaces), gasoline (petrol), jet fuel, kerosene, benzene (historically), and liquefied petroleum gas. A 42-US-gallon (35 imp gal; 160 L) barrel of crude oil produces approximately 10 US gallons (8.3 imp gal; 38 L) of diesel, 4 US gallons (3.3 imp gal; 15 L) of jet fuel, 19 US gallons (16 imp gal; 72 L) of gasoline, 7 US gallons (5.8 imp gal; 26 L) of other products, 3 US gallons (2.5 imp gal; 11 L) split between heavy fuel oil and liquified petroleum gases,[37] and 2 US gallons (1.7 imp gal; 7.6 L) of heating oil. The total production of a barrel of crude into various products results in an increase to 45 US gallons (37 imp gal; 170 L).[37]

In the 18th and 19th centuries, whale oil was commonly used for lamps, which was replaced with natural gas and then electricity.[38]

### Chemical feedstock

Crude oil can be refined into a wide variety of component hydrocarbons using fractional distillation. Petrochemicals are the refined components of crude oil[39] and the chemical products made from them. They are used as detergents, fertilizers, medicines, paints, plastics, synthetic fibers, and synthetic rubber.

Organic oils are another important chemical feedstock, especially in green chemistry.

## See also

* Emulsifier, a chemical which allows oil and water to mix

## Notes

1. ↑ The Old English word was: ele; [2] "Eft on fyrste, æfter Cristes upstige to heofonum, rixode sum wælhreow casere on Romana ríce, æfter Nerone, se wæs Domicianus gehaten, cristenra manna ehtere: se het afyllan ane cyfe mid weallendum ele," (in: IV of Homilies written by Ælfric)
2. ↑

* * *

* * *

Þer beþ riuers..Of oile, melk, honi and wine.[3]

* * *

In Cokaigne is met and drink, [5]
With-vte care, how and swink. [5]
...
Ther beth riuers gret and fine [5]
Of oile, melk, honi and wine. [5]

* * *

* * *

"riuers": "The four rivers of Paradise" of which oil is Geon because of the Apocalypse of St Paul[6][7]

* * *

3. ↑ Latin language sources [13] chronology:

BCE / BC:

Plautus, Poenulus [13] (c. 200) [14]
Cato the Elder,[13] (234–149) (Tusculum) [15] De Agri Cultura [13] (c. 160) [16]
Lex Thoria [13] (111)[17]
Varro,[13] (116–27) (Reate) [15] De Re Rustica [13]
Cicero [13] (106, Arpinum)[18]
Virgil, [13] (October 15, 70, Andes) [19] Aeneid [13]
Horace, [13] (December 8, 65) [20] Saturae [13]
Ovid, [13] (March 20, 43) [21] Tristia [13]
CE / AD:

Columella, [13] (70 AD [22]) De Re Rustica [13]
Pliny the Elder, [13] (23 CE Transpadane Gaul - August 24, 79, Stabiae [23]) Naturalis Historia [13]
Juvenal, [13] (AD 80, Aquinum [24]) Saturae [13]

## References

1. ↑ oil (3rd ed.), Oxford University Press, September 2005, http://oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=oil (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. ↑ Bosworth, Joseph (2014). "ELE". Bosworth Toller's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary online. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University. https://bosworthtoller.com/9200.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Oxford English Dictionary. "oil noun1 Meaning & use". Oxford University Press. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/oil_n1?tl=true&tab=meaning_and_use. "in W. Heuser, Kildare-Gedichte (1904)"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Oxford English Dictionary. "oil noun 1 Etymology". Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/OED/9508264200. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/oil_n1?tl=true&tab=etymology. "Anglo-Norman oile < classical Latin"
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Anglo-Irish poems of the Middle Ages: The Kildare Poems (Author: [unknown) Poem 1 The Land of Cokaygne {MS fol 3r}"]. Corpus of Electronic Texts Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh. https://celt.ucc.ie/published/E300000-001/text001.html.
6. ↑ Bella Millett. "The Land of Cockaygne London MS Harley 913, ff. 3r-6v, Notes 45-46". British Library: University of Southampton Wessex Parallel WebTexts. http://wpwt.soton.ac.uk/trans/cockaygn/cocnn.htm#45-6. "Apocalypse of St Paul; see M. R. James, trans., The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924), p. 538)"
7. ↑ Bella Millett, ed. "The Land of Cockaygne London MS Harley 913, ff. 3r-6v, Translation". British Library: University of Southampton Wessex Parallel WebTexts. http://wpwt.soton.ac.uk/trans/cockaygn/coctrans.htm.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 C. L. Allen (2006). "English, Old English". Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. Australian National University, Canberra: Elsevier Science (published 6 April 2010). p. 358: Effects of Language Contact (last paragraph). ISBN 9780080877754. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Concise_Encyclopedia_of_Languages_of_the/F2SRqDzB50wC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=1066+invasion+caused+change+Old+English+to+Anglo-Norman&pg=PA358&printsec=frontcover.
9. ↑ Pauline StaffordExpression error: Unrecognized word "et". (2020). "NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND". A Dictionary of British and Irish History. p. 447. ISBN 9781119698425. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Dictionary_of_British_and_Irish_Histor/Pt4IEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=1066+invasion+caused+change+Old+English+to+Anglo-Norman&pg=PA448&printsec=frontcover.
10. ↑ Studer M.A.D. Lit., Paul (1924). Anglo-Norman lapidaries. University of Oxford: Paris: EDOUARD CHAMPION fr: archive.org (published 11 January 2011). p. XIII, XVI, XIX: Introduction; 1, 2: THE MANUSCRIPTS; 21, 22: 1 THE FIRST FRENCH VERSION OF MARBODE'S LAPIDARY. https://archive.org/details/AngloNormanLapidaries/studer-p-anglo-1924-RTL009603-LowRes/page/n7/mode/2up. "No Western mineralogical lapidaries are known to have been written after the seventh century, when Isodore of Seville compiled his Etymologiae, until Marbode, bishop of Rennes, between 1067 and 1101, wrote his Latin poem de lapidibus" "six Old French verse translations made directly from the text are known : that called the First French Version" "the discovery of strong evidence that the version called by Pannier Le Premier lapidaire francaise, to which we refer as The First French Version of Marbode's Lapidary, was written before 1150. – of the earlier period there survive scarcely any genuine continental lapidaries in the vernacular except the two translations of Marbode known as the Lapidaire de Modene and the Lapidaire de Berne" "A. M.S. Paris Bibl. Nat. lat. 14470 – is the oldest MS containingg the First French Version – The writing belongs to the latter half of the twelfth century or the beginning of the thirteenth" " Meyer showed conclusively MS. A. was not written in England – our investigations have brought to light strong evidence that it became the basis of an Anglo-Norman prose version about 1150 – The language is that which in the first half of the twelfth century served as a common literary medium in the Norman dominions on both sides of the Channel – uile (usually oile 265-66"
11. ↑ Prifysgol Aberystwyth. "Results (3)". The Anglo-Norman Dictionary (second ed.). Department of Modern Languages Hugh Owen Building: Prifysgol Aberystwyth: anglo-norman.net. https://www.anglo-norman.net/entry/oile_1.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Harper, Douglas. "oil". Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/?term=oil.
13. ↑ 13.00 13.01 13.02 13.03 13.04 13.05 13.06 13.07 13.08 13.09 13.10 13.11 13.12 13.13 13.14 13.15 13.16 13.17 13.18 13.19 13.20 oleum. Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short. A Latin Dictionary on Perseus Project.
14. ↑ John Starks Jnr. "THE PUNY PUNIC (Poenulus) BY Plautus Dramatis Personae)". binghamton.edu. https://bingweb.binghamton.edu/~jstarks/punypunic.html. "The time is more or less the present (i.e. circa 200 B.C.)"
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 CATO AND VARRO ON AGRICULTURE. Loeb Classical Library 283. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1934. https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL283/1934/volume.xml.
16. ↑ M. Stephen Spurr (2014). "Appendix: Cato the Elder: De agricultura". Oxford Companion to CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION. Oxford University Press. p. 156. ISBN 9780198706779. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Oxford_Companion_to_Classical_Civili/AIgdBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Cato+the+Elder,+De+Agri+Cultura++160BC&pg=PA156&printsec=frontcover.
17. ↑ UGA. "LEX THORIA AGRARIA ( 111 BC)". Université Grenoble Alpes. https://droitromain.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/Leges/thoria.gr.html.
18. ↑ "Governors Cicero". Britannica. 4 December 2025. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cicero.
19. ↑ Michael Simpson (1998). "Virgil". Encyclopedia of World Biography. Gale Academic OneFile. Gale. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE|EJ1631006748&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs&userGroupName=anon~7a7828dd&aty=open-web-entry.
20. ↑ Robin Nisbet (28 May 2007). Stephen Harrison. ed. The Cambridge Companion to Horace: 1 – Horace: life and chronology from Part 1: – Orientations. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CCOL0521830028.002. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-horace/horace-life-and-chronology/CE39F23F8CBA22CA5E4AEE17580311A5.
21. ↑ William L. Carey. "P. OVIDIUS NASO (43 B.C. - A.D. 17)". George Mason University. https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/101/ovidintro.pdf.
22. ↑ Silke Diederich (25 February 2016). "Oxford Biographies Columella". Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/obo/9780195389661-0203. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195389661/obo-9780195389661-0203.xml.
23. ↑ Jerry Stannard. "Pliny the Elder". Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pliny-the-Elder.
24. ↑ James Sullivan (December 16, 2003). "JUVENAL". in Frank N. Magill. The Ancient World Dictionary of World Biography. 1. Taylor & Francis. p. 647. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Ancient_World/7NVFUi7G6TEC?hl=en&gbpv=1.
25. ↑ ἔλαιον. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
26. ↑ ἐλαία in Liddell and Scott.
27. ↑ Ventris, Michael; Chadwick, John; L. R. Palmer. "Review:MICHAEL VENTRIS and JOHN CHADWICK:Documents in Mycenaean Greek, 300 selected tablets from Knossos, Pylos and Mycenae, with comm. and vocabulary. With a foreword by Alan J.B. Wace. Cambridge Univ. Press 1956. XXXI. 452 S. 26 Abb. 3 Taf. 4o 84 sh.". Gnomon (Verlag C.H.Beck: ITHAKA) 29 (8). https://www.jstor.org/stable/27681672.
28. ↑ Alberts, Bruce; Johnson, Alexander; Lewis, Julian; Raff, Martin; Roberts, Keith; Walter, Peter. Molecular Biology of the Cell. New York: Garland Science, 2002, pp. 62, 118–119.
29. ↑ Kvenvolden, Keith A. (2006). "Organic geochemistry – A retrospective of its first 70 years". Organic Geochemistry 37 (1): 1. doi:10.1016/j.orggeochem.2005.09.001. Bibcode: 2006OrGeo..37....1K. https://zenodo.org/record/1000677.
30. ↑ Brown, Jessica. "Which cooking oil is the healthiest?". BBC. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200903-which-cooking-oil-is-the-healthiest.
31. ↑ Chesnutt, Randall D. (January 2005). "Perceptions of Oil in Early Judaism and the Meal Formula in Joseph and Aseneth" (in en). Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 14 (2): 113–132. doi:10.1177/0951820705051955. ISSN 0951-8207. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0951820705051955.
32. ↑ Sahagun, Louis (2008-10-11). "Armenian priests journey for jars of holy oil". Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-oct-11-me-beliefs11-story.html.
33. ↑ Ilak Peršurić, Anita Silvana; Težak Damijanić, Ana (January 2021). "Connections between Healthy Behaviour, Perception of Olive Oil Health Benefits, and Olive Oil Consumption Motives" (in en). Sustainability 13 (14): 7630. doi:10.3390/su13147630. ISSN 2071-1050. Bibcode: 2021Sust...13.7630I.
34. ↑ "Oldest Oil Paintings Found in Afghanistan", Rosella Lorenzi, Discovery News. February 19, 2008.
35. ↑ "Cuckoo Clock Questions". Frankenmuth Clock Company & Bavarian Clock Haus. http://www.frankenmuthclock.com/questionscuckoo.htm.
36. ↑ "Troubled waters: Who Would Believe NASA Used Whale Oil on Voyager and Hubble?". Knight Science Journalism at MIT. https://ksj.mit.edu/tracker/2014/03/who-would-believe-nasa-used-whale-oil-vo/.
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) — Retrieved 2011-10-02.
38. ↑ "Whale Oil". petroleumhistory.org. http://www.petroleumhistory.org/OilHistory/pages/Whale/whale.html.
39. ↑ Kostianoy, Andrey G.; Lavrova, Olga Yu (2014-07-08) (in en). Oil Pollution in the Baltic Sea. Springer. ISBN 9783642384769. https://books.google.com/books?id=Eya6BQAAQBAJ&q= +Petrochemicals+are+refined+components+of+crude+oil&pg=PA2.

## External links

* Petroleum Online e-Learning resource from IHRDC

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