Etymologically
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vintage

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈvɪn.tɪd͡ʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English, from Anglo-French vintage, an alteration, influenced by vineter, vintner, of late Middle English vendage, borrowed from Old French vendange (“grape harvest, yield of a vineyard”),[2][3][4][5] from Latin vindemia (“a gathering of grapes”), from vinum (“wine”) and dēmere (“to take off”), from de, away, and emere, to take (see redeem).[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The yield of grapes or wine from a vineyard: probably before 1425 in Barnhart, the early 15th century in Etymonline, about 1450 in the OED.[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

The gathering of the grapes is from 1540, and the season for it from 1616.[7] Wine of good quality, poetically, is from 1604.[7] The age or year of a particular wine is from 1746.[2][3][7] From a man of ancient vintage (1883), the date or period when someone was born or flourished, came the adjective of an earlier time,[2][3][7] and the age or period of origin of anything from 1929.[3][2] Of cars it is from 1928,[3] and characteristic of the best period of someone's work by 1930.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1425 – the yield of a vineyard.[2]
  • 1540 – the grape harvest.[7]
  • 1746 – the year of a wine.[2][7]
  • 1883 – of an earlier time.[3][7]
  • 1928 – vintage cars.[3]
  • 1929 – the period of origin.[3][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The year or place in which a wine, especially a good one, was produced; the wine itself.
  2. The grapes or wine produced in a particular season, or the harvesting of them.
  3. The time when something was made or began.

Adjective

  1. Of high quality and lasting value; classic.
  2. Old-fashioned or from the past, but still valued: vintage clothing.
  3. (British) Of a car, made between 1919 and 1930.

Word family

  • nonvintage
  • unvintaged
  • vintager
  • vintage wine
  • vintage year
  • vintner
  • wine
  • vine
  • redeem
  • vinegar

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press