lupin

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lupine, also lupin and lippine,^[2][3][1] borrowed from Latin lupīnum or lupīnus, the name of the plant,^{[4][5][6][7][8]} or, as some dictionaries have it, borrowed from Old French lupin.^[9][3][1] The Latin noun is a use of the adjective lupīnus, of a wolf, from lupus (“wolf”).^{[10][9][4][3][7]} The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the second quarter of the 13th century, for the white lupin, its bitter seed and the flour made from it.^[11] Dictionary.com compares German Wolfsbohne (“lupin, literally wolf bean”).^[7] Weekley wondered instead whether the Latin word came from Ancient Greek λοπός (lopós, “pod”), altered by folk etymology.^[12] The plant is related by name to lupine and wolf.^[6][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The European white lupin and its seed: lupyne is first recorded in 1373,^[3][14] in a text the MED quotes from Lelamour's translation of Macer, from a manuscript of about 1465.^[2] The 1989 edition of the OED dates the seeds to 1398 and the plant to about 1420.^[15]

Semantic evolution

Why the plant was named after the wolf is unclear.^[10][3] Etymonline and Barnhart suggest a belief that it harmed or exhausted the soil it grew on,^[10][3] which Collins gives as the reason,^[16] while Wiktionary also mentions the wolf-like "fang" inside the flower.^[1] In fact Middle English writers already sowed it as a manure for the land,^[2] and in modern Europe it was valued for improving sandy soil.^[10] In early use the word meant chiefly the Mediterranean white lupin, grown for its seed and as fodder; today it usually means the ornamental kinds, with many-coloured flowers, mostly derived from North American species.^[5][15]

Timeline

• 1373 – lupyne, the white lupin.^[3][2]
• 1398 – the seed of the plant, in Trevisa.^[15][2]
• c. 1420 – the plant, in the OED's earliest quotation.^[15]
• 1601 – attributive use.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any leguminous plant of the genus Lupinus, with tall spikes of brightly coloured flowers, palmate leaves and flat pods.^[16][4][5]
2. The seed of such a plant, eaten since ancient times.^[4][5][15]
3. A light purplish blue.^[4]

Related words

• lupine
• wolf
• lupus

Usage notes

Lupin is the usual spelling in British English, lupine in American English.^[16][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
14. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins