juniper

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English junipere, also junipur, geneper and gynypre,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin iūniperus (“juniper tree”),^{[5][4][6][3][7]} with forms influenced by Old French genoivre and genevre.^[2][5] The OED notes that these forms follow Old French in replacing the ū with e or i but keep the p of Latin, and that the English spelling was later brought back into line with Latin.^[5][4] The Latin word is also the source of French genièvre, Spanish enebro, Portuguese zimbro and Italian ginepro, and through Old French of Middle Dutch genever, now jenever,^[4][5] from which English has genever.^[5] It is of uncertain origin.^{[4][8][9][10]} The first part is often linked with iuncus (“rush, reed”),^[11][8][12] though Etymonline notes phonetic difficulties;^[4] Partridge thought the word perhaps of Mediterranean stock.^[12] Watkins reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *yoini-paros (“bearing juniper berries”), from *yoi-ni- (“juniper berry”), perhaps from a non-Indo-European language, and *-paro (“producing”), from the root *perə- (“to produce, procure”).^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The common European juniper tree: about 1390, in the Vernon manuscript of the Pistel of Swete Susan, which lists the Iunipere among the trees of Susan's garden.^[2][5] Barnhart dates the evergreen to about 1390 but finds the word earlier, before 1382, in the Wycliffite Bible, for a desert shrub of Biblical times.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the English Bible, following the Vulgate's Latin, juniper translated the Hebrew name of a white-flowered desert shrub of the genus Retama, which is not related to the European evergreen.^[5][4] Collins also notes it as one of the trees used to build Solomon's temple in the Old Testament.^[9] From 1748 the name was applied loosely to North American conifers of other genera, such as the American larch and the white cedar.^[5][4][3] In 19th-century slang juniper was gin, which is flavoured with juniper berries,^[5][9] and in American slang around 1900 a country bumpkin.^[13] Florio in 1598 recorded it as a name for the fieldfare.^[5] Johnson (1755) described the plant at length from the gardener Philip Miller.^[14] In 18th-century Hertfordshire a juniper-lecture was a curtain lecture, a wife's scolding in bed.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1390 – the European juniper tree.^[2][5]
• c. 1395 – in Bible translations, a white-flowered desert shrub (Retama).^[5]
• 1598 – the fieldfare (obsolete).^[5]
• 1748 – conifers of other genera in North America, such as the larch.^[5][4]
• 1857 – slang, gin.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An evergreen coniferous shrub or tree of the genus Juniperus, with purple berry-like cones that are used to flavour gin.^[9][3][5]
2. Any of several similar trees, such as the American larch or the white cedar.^[3][5][9]
3. In the Bible, the white-flowered desert shrub called retem.^[3][5]
4. A dark greyish green colour.^[3]

Word family

• juniper berry
• juniper oil
• juniper tar
• Chinese juniper

Related words

• gin
• genever
• geneva
• jonquil

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
13. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ 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)