Olive

See also: olive and olīve

English

Etymology

Medieval form of the (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin saint's name Oliva "olive"; revived in the 19th century when flower and plant names became fashionable. The surname is topographical, often representing an Anglicization of continental European surnames such as (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Spanish Oliva.

Proper noun

Olive

1. A female given name from English.
   • 1842 Alfred Tennyson, The Talking Oak:

     And hear me swear a solemn oath, / That only by thy side / Will I to Olive plight my troth, / And gain her for my bride.

   • 1850 Dinah Craik, Olive, Chapman and Hall, page 26:

     "Elspie, I have a thought! The baby shall be christened Olive!"

     "It's a strange, heathen name, Mrs. Rothesay."

     "Not at all. Listen how I chanced to think of it. This very morning, just before you came to waken me, I had such a queer, delicious dream. [ - - - ] Then I looked up, after awhile, and saw standing at the foot of the bed a little angel—a child-angel—with a green olive-branch in its hand. [ - - - ] "

   • 2006 Alice Munro, The View from Castle Rock, Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, pages 227-228:

     There was Olive, a soft drowsy girl who didn't like me because I called her Olive Oyl. Even after I was made to apologize she didn't like me.

2. A surname
3. (rare) A male given name from English.

Related terms

• Olivia

Anagrams

• lovie, voile

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Cebuano

Etymology

From English Olive.

Proper noun

Olive

1. a female given name from English

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German

Etymology

From Middle High German olīve, borrowed from Latin oliva.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oˈliːvə/
• IPA^(key): /oˈliːfə/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Olive f (genitive Olive, plural Oliven)

1. olive (fruit)

Derived terms

• grauoliv
• oliv
• Olivenbaum
• Olivenblätter
• olivenfarben
• olivenfarbig
• Olivenhain
• Olivenibis
• Olivenkern
• Olivenstein
• olivgrün

 

Further reading

• “Olive” in Duden online