古英語のemty, leisure, idleから。 e, withoutはout, ordeal（語源はdeal outと同じ）と語源的には同じ、-mt, mustはmustと語源的には同じ。 発音を和らげるためにpが挿入されている。原義はnon-essential、freeで、語源はtime to space。
英語の語源
empty
empty: [OE] The original meaning of Old English ?mtig appears to have been ‘unoccupied, at leisure’, and it was only secondarily that it developed the physical connotations of ‘not full’ which have come down to us in empty. (It also meant ‘unmarried’.) It was a derivative of the noun ?metta ‘rest, leisure’. This is a word of uncertain history, but it has been plausibly analysed as the negative prefix ?- plus a derivative of the root which produced modern English mete (as in ‘mete out’), meaning something like ‘not assigned’. => mete
empty (adj.)
c. 1200, from Old English ?mettig "at leisure, not occupied; unmarried," also "containing nothing, unoccupied," from ?metta "leisure," from ? "not" + -metta, from motan "to have" (see might (n.)). The -p- is a euphonic insertion.
Sense evolution from "at leisure" to "containing nothing, unoccupied" is paralleled in several languages, such as Modern Greek adeios "empty," originally "freedom from fear," from deios "fear." "The adj. adeios must have been applied first to persons who enjoyed freedom from duties, leisure, and so were unoccupied, whence it was extended to objects that were unoccupied" [Buck]. Related: Emptier. Figurative sense of empty-nester attested by 1960.
empty (n.)
"an empty thing" that was or is expected to be full, 1865, from empty (adj.). At first of barges, freight cars, mail pouches.
empty (v.)
1520s, from empty (adj.); replacing Middle English empten, from Old English ge?mtigian. Related: Emptied; emptying.
例文
1. Empty the contents of the pan into the sieve.
鍋の中身をふるいにかける。
2.She showed him around the ground floor of the empty house.
彼女は彼をこの空き家の底階を案内した。
3.She went to the sink and ran water into her empty glass.
彼女は水槽のそばに行って、空のグラスに水を入れた。
4.His voice sounded oddly resonant in the empty room.
彼の声はこのがらんとした部屋の中で非常に高らかに聞こえる。
5.Her parting words left him feeling empty and alone.