'empty' originates from Old English, specifically the word 'ǣmtig' (also written 'æmtig'), where 'æmta' meant 'vacancy' or 'leisure'.

'ǣmtig' changed in Middle English to forms like 'empti' or 'empi' and eventually became the modern English word 'empty' (from which the noun/gerund 'emptying' and its plural 'emptyings' derive).

Initially, it meant 'vacant, unoccupied'; over time it developed the current sense of 'containing nothing' or 'to make something contain nothing' (and related nouns for the act or result of that process).