vine

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English vyne, borrowed from Old French vigne, also vine,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} inherited from Latin vīnea (“vineyard, vine”),^[3][7][4] the feminine of vīneus (“of wine”) used as a noun,^[7][5][8][6] from vīnum (“wine”),^[3][2][9] the source of wine.^[3][9] The Latin noun lives on in vigna, viña, vinha and vinya.^[4][9] Etymonline reconstructs the Latin word for wine as an Italic noun related to words for wine in Greek, Armenian and Hittite and in Georgian and Semitic, and probably from a lost Mediterranean word;^[3] Klein says its ultimate origin is unknown.^[9] In vineyard the French-derived word replaced Old English wīngeard.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The climbing plant that bears grapes: the OED's first quotation is from the Early English Psalter (before 1300),^[4] Barnhart's from Kyng Alisaunder (probably before 1300),^[2] and Etymonline dates the word to about 1300, with a surname from the mid-13th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From about 1315 the vine was applied to Christ, after John 15,^[4][3] and Barnhart notes the figurative sense of a sphere of spiritual work from about 1375, after the parable of the vineyard.^[2] The extension to any plant with a long slender stem that trails or climbs dates from the late 14th century in Etymonline;^[3] the OED records the stem of such a plant from 1563 and, as an American use, the whole plant from 1708.^[4] In dialect vine could mean a straw rope (1577),^[4] and in Hertfordshire any trailing plant;^[12] in Northumberland, Durham and Cumberland it was a lead pencil.^[12] American slang used vine for a suit of clothes from 1932,^[4][13] and the vine for the grapevine of rumour.^[13] A verb, to grow like a vine, is recorded from 1579;^[4] Merriam-Webster dates it 1796.^[8]

Timeline

• mid-13th century – as a surname.^[3]
• a1300 – the grapevine.^[4][2]
• c. 1315 – applied to Christ.^[4]
• c. 1375 – a sphere of spiritual work.^[2]
• late 14th century – any trailing or climbing plant.^[3]
• 1563 – the stem of a trailing or climbing plant.^[4]
• 1708 – (US) a trailing or climbing plant.^[4]
• 1932 – (US slang) a suit of clothes.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The climbing plant that bears grapes; a grapevine.
2. Any plant with a long, thin stem that climbs by clinging to a support or trails along the ground, or the stem of such a plant: A vine had grown over the old shed.
3. (US slang) A suit of clothes; in the plural, clothes.

Verb

1. To grow or climb like a vine.

Word family

• vineless
• vinelike
• vined
• vinedresser
• vineland
• vinery
• vineyard

Related words

• vigneron
• vignette
• vineal
• viny
• wine
• vinegar
• vintage
• vintner
• grapevine

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b 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)
13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com