Etymologically
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ginger

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈdʒɪn.dʒə/, US /ˈdʒɪn.dʒɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gingivere, inherited from Old English gingifer, also gingiber,[2][3][4][5] influenced in Middle English by Old French gingibre (modern French gingembre).[2][4][6] The Old English word is borrowed from Medieval Latin gingiber, from Latin zingiberi,[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek ζιγγίβερις (zingíberis),[2][3][4] from a Middle Indic word known from Pali and Prakrit.[2][3][4][6] Sanskrit renders it as a compound of words for horn and body, from the shape of the root,[3][2] but this may be folk etymology, and the word probably goes back to Dravidian words for ginger and root.[3][2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The rhizome of the ginger plant, used as a spice: about 1000.[7][2]

Semantic evolution

Middle English gingivre is probably from before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle and Layamon, and gynger from 1363–64.[2] The plant itself is ginger from before 1366.[7] A red-haired person or a cock with reddish feathers is from 1785,[7] a showy, fast horse from 1825, spirit or mettle from 1843, and a sandy colour from 1865.[7] The verb, to treat a horse with ginger, and so to spirit up, is from the 19th century.[4] A ginger group, a pressure group within a party, is from the early 20th century.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – ginger, the spice.[7][2]
  • before 1366 – the ginger plant.[7]
  • 1785 – a red-haired person.[7]
  • 1843 – spirit, mettle.[7]
  • 1865 – a sandy colour.[7]
  • early 20th century – ginger group.[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A tropical Southeast Asian plant, Zingiber officinale, with a pungent, aromatic rhizome.
  2. The rhizome of this plant, used fresh or powdered as a spice, or crystallized as a sweet.
  3. A light reddish or sandy colour.
  4. (informal) Spirit; mettle.
  5. A red-haired person.

Verb

  1. To flavour with ginger.
  2. To make lively, often with up.

Word family

  • gingery
  • gingerbread
  • ginger lily
  • ginger ale
  • ginger beer
  • ginger group
  • galangal
  • gingerly

Usage notes

Gingerly, cautiously, is unrelated; it is from the early 16th century and of unknown origin.[8] In dialects of northern and Midland England, ginger as an adjective meant careful or tender.[9] The CEPD gives a separate pronunciation, /ˈɡɪŋ.ə/, for ginger as a name for a red-haired person.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ 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)