Etymologically
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cypress

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈsaɪ.pɹəs/[1]

cypress1 evergreen tree

Etymology

The word for the tree is inherited from Middle English cipres, also cypres,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman ciprés and Old French cipres,[4][5][2][6][7] now cyprès,[6][8] from Late Latin cypressus,[2][6][9][10] from Ancient Greek κυπάρισσος (kupárissos).[2][6][10][8] The earlier Latin borrowing of the Greek word was cupressus; the later cypressus and the rare cyparissus were refashioned after the Greek,[2][6] and the American Heritage Dictionary takes cypressus as probably a blend of cupressus and cyparissus.[9] The Greek word was probably borrowed from an unknown language of the Mediterranean region spoken before Greek, as was Latin cupressus;[6][7][4][8] Klein derives it from the Hebrew name of the tree whose wood was used to build the ark (Genesis 6:14), and Etymonline and Barnhart compare it.[3][6][7] Old English already had cypresse, borrowed from Latin,[11][12][13] and the modern spelling cypress replaced Middle English cipres under the influence of the Late Latin form.[2][12][8][14] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1121–25, for the tree and its wood.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The evergreen tree, dated about 1175 by Barnhart[7] and the late 12th century by Etymonline.[6] The OED's first quotation is from the Cursor Mundi (before 1325, in a manuscript of before 1400).[2]

Semantic evolution

The name was first given to the Mediterranean tree Cupressus sempervirens, and by 1386, in Chaucer's Sir Thopas, to its wood.[2] The tree, noted for its dark foliage and durable, fragrant wood, was sacred to Pluto, and its branches were used at funerals as an emblem of mourning;[6][2] this use is recorded in English from 1590, in Spenser's Faerie Queene.[2] From 1548, in Turner's Names of Herbes, the word was applied to plants thought to resemble the cypress.[2] From 1785 it was also used for related trees of America, Africa, Australia and Japan, such as the bald cypress.[2][6][8] In Cornwall the common tamarisk was called cypress.[15]

Timeline

  • c. 1175 – Middle English cipres, the cypress tree.[7] Etymonline dates it to the late 12th century,[6] the OED to before 1325.[2]
  • c. 1386 – the wood of the tree, in Chaucer.[2]
  • 1548 – plants resembling the cypress.[2]
  • 1590 – cypress branches as a symbol of mourning, in Spenser.[2]
  • 1785 – trees related to the true cypress.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Any of a genus (Cupressus) of evergreen coniferous trees and shrubs with small, overlapping, scalelike leaves and round cones.[4][13][8]
  2. Any of various related or similar trees, such as Lawson's cypress or the bald cypress of North American swamps.[13][4][2]
  3. The wood of any of these trees.[13][2]
  4. Branches or sprigs of cypress used as a symbol of mourning.[4][2]

Word family

  • cypress knee

cypress2 fabric from Cyprus

Etymology

The fabric is inherited from Middle English cipres, also cyprus,[4][3][12] probably borrowed from Old French Cipre (“Cyprus”), also Cypre, the name of the island of Cyprus, from which various fabrics were brought during and after the Crusades;[2][3][4][8] the Shorter Oxford gives the Anglo-Norman form as cipres.[8] Weekley notes an earlier form cipre.[14] In Anglo-Norman Cipre also meant silver-gilt thread.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cloth of gold or other costly material: before 1440, in the romance Sir Degrevant.[2] Merriam-Webster dates the word to the 15th century,[4] and Dictionary.com to 1350–1400.[12]

Semantic evolution

The name passed from a rich cloth of gold (to about 1500) to a costly satin, satin of Cypres (1509–1603),[2][4] and then especially to a light, transparent fabric like crape, called more fully cypress lawn, which, when black, was much worn in mourning (1577–1722).[2][8][4] A piece of it was worn as a mourning band on the hat or as a kerchief (1530–1717).[2][4] Milton used cypress lawn in Il Penseroso.[14] In Kent the word still meant a thin black crape-like material in the 19th century, and in Norfolk the dark grey, striped colour of a tabby cat.[15][2]

Timeline

  • before 1440 – a cloth of gold or other costly fabric.[2]
  • 1509 – a costly satin, satin of Cypres.[2]
  • 1530 – a piece of cypress worn as a sign of mourning.[2]
  • 1577 – a light, crape-like fabric, cypress lawn.[2]
  • 1857 – dark grey with darker markings, of a tabby cat (local).[2][15]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (now rare or obsolete) Any of various rich fabrics brought from or through Cyprus in the Middle Ages, especially a costly satin.[4][2][8]
  2. (now rare or obsolete) A thin, transparent gauze like crape, usually dyed black and worn in mourning; cypress lawn.[4][2][8]
  3. (now rare or obsolete) A piece of this fabric worn as a sign of mourning, as a kerchief or hatband.[4][2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  12. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  15. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)