Learn English – Where did “elbow grease” come from

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I was reading a French blog the other day and I came across the phrase l'huile de coude, meaning "elbow grease." Since "elbow grease" is something I've known about in English all my life (parental exhortations to put a little elbow grease into my cleaning efforts), I was somewhat surprised to see the same expression in French.

That got me wondering about the etymology of the phrase and which language it occurred in first, and whether it transferred from one to the other. The online Etymology Dictionary states that the earliest English occurrence is circa 1670.

My French friends don't believe it is an anglicisme. Any thoughts on the matter?

Best Answer

Edit: found the citation from 1672, from Andrew Marvell’s The Rehearsal Transpros'd:

Two or three brawny Fellows in a Corner, with meer Ink and Elbow-grease, do more Harm than an Hundred systematical Divines with their sweaty Preaching.

It's also defined in B.E.'s A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew, in its several tribes, of gypsies, beggers, thieves, cheats, &c. with an addition of some proverbs, phrases, figurative speeches, &c., c.1698:

Elbow-greaſe, a deriſory term for Sweat. It will coſt nothing but a little Elbow-grease ; in a jeer to one that is lazy, and thinks much of his Labour.

I found no earlier mentions than senderle, but here are some useful references. These are the earliest references I could find, and helpfully, they are also dictionary definitions.

The Online Etymology Dictionary says

Phrase elbow grease "hard rubbing" is attested from 1670s, from jocular sense of "the best substance for polishing furniture."

There's a similarly colourful definition in Francis Grose's 1785 A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue:

ELBOW GREASE, labour, elbow grease will make an oak table shine.

(The rest of this dictionary is interesting too!)

Also, very pertinent to the question, here's The Royal Dictionary, French and English, and English and French by Abel Boyer in 1729:

Elbow-grease, (or Pains) Rude travail.

Rude travail is French for rough work. There's no entry for "l'huile de coude" in the French side.

And in John S. Farmer and W.E. Henley's 1905 A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English:

Elbow-grease. Energetic and continuous manual labour : e.g. Elbow-grease is the best furniture oil : Fr., huile de bras or de poignet ; du foulage (1779).

French huile de bras or de poignet is oil of the arm, wrist which is quite close. I think du foulage is fulling, the manual scouring and milling of cloth.

The earliest French reference I could "l'huile de coude" helpfully explains the term. In Jean Humbert's 1852 Nouveau Glossaire Genevois: Volume 1 (New Geneva Glossary):

Dans le langage badin des domestiques et des maîtresses, l'huile de coude, c'est le frottage, c'est-à-dire : Le travail de la servante qui frotte. Ces meubles, Madame, ne veulent pas devenir brillants. — C'est que, ma mie, tu y as sans doute économisé l'huile de coude; c'est-à-dire : Tu as trop ménagé ton bras et tes forces.

A rough translation:

In the playful language of servants and masters, elbow grease is rubbing, i.e. the work of the maid who scrubs. This furniture, Madam, does not want to shine. - My dear, that is because you have undoubtedly skimped on the elbow grease. In other words, you have conserved both your arm and your strength.

These references also suggest that "l'huile de coude" is an anglicisme.

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