Etymologically
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vine

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Pronunciation

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

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