Etymology
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Ethanol is the systematic name defined by the IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry for a molecule with two carbon atoms (prefix "eth-"), having a single bond between them (suffix "-ane"), and an attached -OH group (suffix "-ol").
The term 'ethyl' is the Anglicised version of the German word äthyl, which was coined in 1838 by Liebig. It was modeled after the related term 'methyl' both terms originate from Greek, and share the segment 'yl', which is equivalent to 'hyle' meaning stuff. However, the preceding segment differs - 'eth', is equivalent to 'aither', meaning ether. Thus the word 'ethyl' is a contraction of 'aither hyle'. Liebig used the term 'ethyl alcohol' to distinguish between ethanol and other alcohols.
The term "alcohol" now refers to a wider class of substances in chemistry nomenclature, but in common parlance it remains the name of ethanol. Ultimately a medieval loan from Arabic al-kuḥl, use of alcohol in this sense is modern, introduced in the mid 18th century. Before that time, Middle Latin alcohol referred to "powdered ore of antimony; powdered cosmetic", by the later 17th century "any sublimated substance; distilled spirit" use for "the spirit of wine" (shortened from a full expression alcohol of wine) recorded 1753. The systematic use in chemistry dates to 1850.
Read more about this topic: Jaysol
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