Extra virgin

Can't tell you when the term came into use, but "extra-virgin" denotes olive oil that is both unadulterated and of very low acidity (< 0.8%). The basic idea is that it's not enough for an olive oil to be "pure," it also has to taste good.

I don't remember seeing it before the 1970s. First you just saw "olive oil" then maybe in the 60s you started to see "virgin olive oil" and then "extra virgin". "Extra virgin" excited some comment at the time, if I recall correctly.

I found "virgin oil" in a 1756 dictionary, so it's not a new term.
VIRGIN Oil+ is that which oozes spontaneously out of the +Olive &c. without pressing.

Pliny the Elder wrote
The first oil of all, produced from the raw olive before it has begun to ripen, is considered preferable to all the others in flavour; in this kind, too, the first* droppings of the press are the most esteemed...
(The translator of this 1855 edition added the footnote)
*Called "virgin," or "native" oil in France, and very highly esteemed.

Thanks for all replies.

I have, from reading them, formed an impression: originally, it was virgin oo and oo; then, it became commercially advantageous to introduce evoo - i.e. the second pressing, which was hitherto oo, became voo, and the first pressing, hitherto vo, became evoo.

Just a hunch.

That wouldn't surprise me at all, tony.

Oil which doesn't even kiss on the first date?

Wikipedia points out that there is no such thing as a "second pressing", and "cold pressing" is an undefined term. So what defines EVOO is:

It is produced from the pressing, ie no solvents are used for secondary extraction
It has not been refined
It has an acidity of less than 0.8%

So careful producers can actually produce a very high proportion of their oil as EVOO, if the raw materials are of sufficient quality to enable production of low acid oil. I think I read that as much as 70% of the oil in some countries is EVOO.

I like sneaker's definition. It makes a lot of sense.

I don't know where the expression come from, but we have it in Spanish, and for me it has more sense.

We say "aceite de oliva virgen extra" - which means that the oil of the bottle comes from olives, it's virgin (it hasn't undergone any artificial method of extraction) and it is of an extraordinary quality.

Maybe "extra virgin" is translated from Spanish, and since we all know that the word order is the opposite in both languages... it's a logical translation:

el coche azul --> the blue car // virgen extra --> extra virgin