merino

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish merino,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} recorded in Spanish from the 15th century.^[2] The origin of the Spanish word is disputed or unknown.^[6][5][7] The OED takes it as probably from the Arabic name for a member of the Banū Marīn, a Berber people and former dynasty of Morocco, from whose territory sheep were brought to Spain;^[2] Barnhart and Etymonline describe them as a family of sheep farmers whose animals were imported in the 14th and 15th centuries to improve the local breeds,^[4][3] and Klein and Dictionary.com also name the tribe as the source.^[8][9] The other explanation starts from the Spanish noun merino, an inspector of sheep-walks and cattle pastures, also a judicial officer,^[4][10][11] recorded from the 11th century,^[2] which is from Medieval Latin maiorinus (“head of a village; royal delegate with judicial powers”), from Latin maior (“greater”), the source of major.^[2][4][12] Skeat and Weekley derived the name of the sheep from this word,^[10][11] and Etymonline allows that it may refer to the size of the animals;^[3] the OED and Barnhart think the officer's title only influenced the form of the tribal name.^[2][4] Barnhart adds that the sheep were driven between mountain pastures in summer and lowlands in winter, so that the Spanish word is sometimes said to mean "roving from pasture to pasture".^[4][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a breed of sheep with very fine wool, originating in Spain: 1780, in J. T. Dillon's Travels through Spain.^[2] Barnhart dates the word to 1781, in a travel book on Spain,^[4] and so does Etymonline.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word was first used as an adjective, merino sheep, and as a noun for the sheep from 1804.^[2][13][11] From the early 19th century it was applied to the wool and to things made from it:^[3] a soft fine fabric resembling cashmere (1818), a garment made of it (1820 as an adjective, in a letter by Keats; 1839 as a noun), and a fine woollen yarn for hosiery (1886).^[2] In Australia and New Zealand, where merino sheep were introduced early and in small numbers and were valued above coarse-woolled sheep, a pure merino was from 1826 a free settler as opposed to a convict, and later a member of a leading family; the adjective meant "first-class, elite".^[2][14] In the Caribbean a merino is a man's undershirt, originally one of merino wool,^[2][15] and in West Yorkshire it was the finest kind of shoddy, made from women's dresses.^[16]

Timeline

• 1780 – designating a breed of sheep with fine wool.^[2]
• 1804 – a merino sheep.^[2][13]
• 1818 – a soft fine fabric of merino wool.^[2]
• 1826 – in Australia, pure merino, a free settler.^[2]
• 1839 – a garment made of merino.^[2]
• 1846 – in the United States, a variety of potato.^[2]
• 1886 – a fine woollen yarn.^[2]
• c. 1915 – in the Caribbean, an undershirt.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A breed of sheep originating in Spain and raised for its fine, soft fleece; also, a sheep of this breed: a flock of merinos.^[13][14][2]
2. The fine wool of this sheep.^[14][3]
3. A soft, fine fabric like cashmere, first made of merino wool and later of other wool or of wool and cotton; also, a garment made of it.^[2][17]
4. A fine woollen yarn used for hosiery and knitwear.^[2][14]
5. (Australia, informal) pure merino: in early colonial times, a free settler rather than a convict; hence, a wealthy and socially prominent person.^[14][2][17]
6. (Caribbean) A man's sleeveless undershirt.^[2][15]

Adjective

1. Of merino sheep, or made of merino wool or fabric: a merino scarf.^[2][13]

Related words

• major
• mayor

References

1. ^ a b 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
13. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b Allsopp, Richard, ed. (1996), Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ 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)
17. ^ a b Moore, Bruce, ed. (2004), The Australian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Melbourne: Oxford University Press