Etymologically
Log in

pine

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 14:35. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pine, the tree, comes from Latin pīnus, while pine, to languish, is from Old English pīnian, to torment, which may go back to Latin poena, punishment.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /paɪn/[4]

pine1 tree

Etymology

It is Old English borrowed from Latin pīn- (“pine tree”), in compounds such as pīntrēow,[2][5] coalescing in Middle English with Old French pin, also from Latin pīnus.[1][2][5] Latin pīnus is cognate with Greek pítus, pine, and Sanskrit pītudāru, pine tree,[1][2][3] perhaps from PIE *pi-nu-, from *peyh₁-, to be fat, swell, in reference to its sap or pitch.[1] The native Old English word was furh, fir.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The tree, in compounds: about 1000;[2] pin about 1150, and pine before 1325, in the Cursor Mundi.[2]

Semantic evolution

Fowler noted that the Scotch fir is in fact a pine and that the distinction concerns the botanist more than the man in the street.[1] Pine-top, cheap illicit whiskey, is Southern US slang by 1858.[1] The pineapple first meant a pine cone (14th century) and was applied to the tropical fruit in the 17th century.[5][2]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – pīn- in compounds.[2]
  • c. 1150 – pin.[2]
  • 14th century – pineapple, a pine cone.[5]
  • 1858 – pine-top (slang).[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An evergreen coniferous tree of the genus Pinus, with needle-shaped leaves and woody cones.
  2. The wood of such a tree.
  3. Any of various similar trees or plants.

Word family

  • pine cone
  • pine needle
  • pine nut
  • pinewood

pine2 languish

Etymology

It is Middle English pinen, inherited from Old English pīnian (“to torture, torment, cause to suffer”),[1][2][3] from an assumed Old English *pīn, pain, punishment,[1][2][3] a general Germanic word (compare German Pein and Old Norse pína),[1][5] possibly from Medieval or Vulgar Latin *pēna, from Latin poena (“punishment, penalty”) (see penal, pain),[1][2][3] which probably entered Germanic with Christianity.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cause to suffer: before 899, in Alfred's translation of Orosius.[2]

Semantic evolution

To torture or crucify is from about 1125, and to torment or punish from 1137.[2] To cause to starve is from about 1300,[1] and to waste away with hunger, pain or desire, the main modern sense, from the early 14th century (before 1325),[1][2] through the Middle English senses endure penance, suffer.[1] To be consumed with longing is from the 16th century.[5] The OED records an old noun pine, punishment, suffering, grief, from about 1160.[6]

Timeline

  • before 899 – to cause suffering.[2]
  • c. 1125 – to torture.[2]
  • c. 1300 – to starve.[1]
  • before 1325 – to waste away.[2]
  • 16th century – to long for.[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To feel a lingering longing, often for something lost.
  2. To waste away from longing or grief.

Noun

  1. (archaic) Intense longing or grief.

Word family

  • pining
  • repine
  • pineapple
  • pain
  • penal
  • punish

Usage notes

In Somerset dialect a pine was a pen for sheep or cattle, and in County Antrim the black-headed gull.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ 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)