file [OE] Of the three different words that take the form file in English, the oldest is the word for the smoothing tool, which is Old English. The other two, the folder and the queue, both go back to Latin filum ‘thread’ found also in filament [L16th], filigree [L17th] which was originally spelt filigrane and formed from filum and granum ‘seed’ from its appearance, and fillet [ME] originally a ribbon tied round the head and subsequently used for any long, thin strip. The folder sense, from Late Middle English, comes about because it was originally used of paperwork kept in order by being threaded on string. The line of people, which is late 16th century, was a reborrowing from French, from the idea of people strung out.