'elliptic' originates from Late Latin 'ellipticus', ultimately from Greek 'elliptikos', derived from 'elleipsis' meaning 'a falling short' or 'omission'.

'elliptic' passed into English via Latin (and medieval scholarly usage) from Greek; Greek 'elleipsis' gave 'elliptikos' which became Latin 'ellipticus' and then English 'elliptic'.

Initially connected to the idea of 'falling short' or 'omission', the term came to be used for the geometric 'ellipse' (a shape) and later acquired the figurative sense of 'omitting words' or being 'concise/ambiguous'.