Polish (the substance, not the language)

I don't believe there was a word for polish in English before 1800. One could always have said polishing compound if one needed to refer to the general class of substances used for polishing things. There are lots of classes of things in English that don't have a general word for them. For example, there is no word that encompasses spades, shovels, hoes, and trowels; one has to say digging tool.

There certainly wasn't a general word for polish that was used for shoe polish. According to Wikipedia, the words used for shoe polish before the middle of the 19th century were blacking and dubbin:

In the 19th century many forms of shoe polish became available, yet were rarely referred to as shoe polish or boot polish. Instead, they were often called blacking (especially when mixed with lampblack), or simply continued to be referred to as dubbin. – Wikipedia.

Neither word could have been used for the whole range of things called polish today: the word dubbin originally meant a wax-based compound used for softening leather, which didn't necessarily impart a shine to the shoes; and the word blacking could only have been used for compounds that imparted a black color as well as a shine.

The OED has an example of the verb polish from Wycliffe's Bible of 1382, as its earliest reference.

So far as the noun goes, that meaning refinement, culture, elegance of manner has an example from 1597, but none of such examples are from Shakespeare - interestingly. It would seem surprising that he should not have picked up on it if it was around in his day.

1597 J. Payne Royall Exchange 19 This poore pamphlett,..without fynenes of methode, or pullishe of art.

As far as any substance called polish is concerned, the earliest example the OED gives is from an entry in the Post Office directory:

1819 Post Office London Directory 367 Wheeler, T., Warehouse for Bentley & Co's French Polish.

For a complete answer here one may need to refer to a French source - since French is the origin of the word. And I suspect France was, and probably may still be, the home of polish - as it is with perfume, wine and cheese.

If it's any help the French noun is cire (wood); cirage (shoes); páte (brass, silver). The verbs are cirer (shoes, furniture); astiquer (leather, car, glass) and polir (only for stone).