The term alibi was first recorded in Edward Grimestone’s 1612 work General History of Spain, where it held the same meaning as it does today. It is believed to have entered the English language possibly through Dutch, originating from Latin where it literally meant “elsewhere” or “another place”. This Latin term stems from the adjective alius, which translates to “other”, and alius traces back to Proto-Italic aljos and Proto-Indo-European hel, both sharing the same fundamental meaning. Alius has left its mark on the English lexicon by giving us words such as alias (“also known as”), alien (“belonging to another”), and the expression inter alia (“among other things”), while also being distantly related to terms like else, other, and ulterior. According to Google Ngram Viewer, literary usage of alibi has been steadily on the rise since its introduction, reaching a peak in 2017.
