vineyard

Etymology

It is formed from English vine + yard,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} replacing the earlier Middle English winyard,^[4][7][8] from Old English wīngeard, which was formed from wīn (“wine”) and geard (“enclosure, yard”).^{[2][5][9][10]} The MED derives the Middle English vineyerd, also spelled wineyerd, partly from the Old English word and partly from the Middle English words for vine and yard.^[11] The Old English compound has cognates in Old Saxon wīngardo, Old High German wīngart, Old Norse víngarðr, Dutch wijngaard, German Weingarten and Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐍃 (weinagards).^{[9][8][12][5]} Vine itself is from Old French vigne (“vine, vineyard”), from Latin vīnea (“vine, vineyard”), from vīnum (“wine”);^[5] yard goes back through the same Old English word to Proto-Germanic *gardaz.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A piece of ground where grapevines are grown: before 1340, in Richard Rolle's Psalter;^[2] Etymonline dates the word to about 1300.^[5] Old English wīngeard already meant a vineyard, and also the vines growing in it, and is used in the Gospels, as in the parable of the labourers in Matthew 20.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From about 1380, in the Wycliffite sermons, the word was used figuratively for a sphere of work, especially of a spiritual kind,^[2][3] an echo of the parable of the labourers in the vineyard in Matthew 20.^[5] Merriam-Webster still records the sense of a field of physical or mental occupation.^[6] In place names the Old English word survives in names such as The Vineyard, usually replaced by the Middle English form.^[10] Johnson (1755) defined it as ground planted with vines, quoting Shakespeare.^[13] In 1650 it was used, rarely, for a siege shelter, the Latin vinea.^[2] In late 20th-century African American slang vineyard was an ironic name for any place where alcoholics gathered.^[14]

Timeline

• before 1340 – a plantation of grapevines.^[2]
• c. 1380 – figuratively, a sphere of labour, especially spiritual.^[2]
• 1650 – a siege shelter (obsolete, rare).^[2]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as ground planted with vines.^[13]
• 1983 – slang, a place where alcoholics gather.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A piece of land planted with grapevines, especially one where grapes are grown for wine: They bought a small vineyard in the hills.^{[12][6][2][3]}
2. A sphere of work or activity, especially of a spiritual kind, often in biblical allusion.^[6][2][3]

Word family

• vineyardist

Related words

• vine
• yard
• wine
• vinegar

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
10. ^ a b Smith, A. H. (1956), English Place-Name Elements, 2 vols. (English Place-Name Society 25–26), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com