chestnut English · revision 1051

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈt͡ʃɛs(t)nʌt/ ''(UK)''; /ˈt͡ʃɛs(t)ˌnʌt/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Formed from ''chesten nut'' (1519),^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) from [[inh|enm|chesteine]] and [[nut]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) [[bor|fro|chastaigne]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) [[der|la|castanea|t=chestnut, chestnut tree]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[der|grc|καστανέα|tr=kastanéa|t=chestnut tree]].^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) The Greeks explained it as “nut from Castana” or “from Castanea”, place names, but these are probably named after the trees,^(Etymonline) and the word is probably borrowed from a language of Asia Minor (compare Armenian ''kask'' “chestnut”).^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The edible nut of the chestnut tree (1519).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The name passed to the tree (1578) and its wood (1823),^(OED 1989) and to the reddish-brown colour, as an adjective by 1555 and a noun from the 1650s.^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline) It was applied to the [[horse chestnut]] from 1832^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and to the hard knob on the inside of a horse's foreleg (1859).^(OED 1989) The slang sense “old, often-repeated joke” is from 1885 in the United States;^(Etymonline) the actor Joseph Jefferson traced it to a scene in the 1816 melodrama ''The Broken Sword'' in which a character keeps retelling a story involving a chestnut tree.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – Middle English ''chesteine''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1519 – ''chesten nut'', the nut.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1555 – adjective, chestnut-coloured.^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1578 – the tree.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1832 – the horse chestnut.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1859 – the knob on a horse's leg.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1885 – an old, stale joke.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Any of several [[deciduous]] trees of the genus ''Castanea'', of the [[beech]] family, with toothed leaves and nuts enclosed in a prickly [[bur]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The often edible nut of such a tree.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The wood of such a tree.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+ # Any of several similar plants, such as the [[horse chestnut]].^(AHD)^(RHWU)

+ # A moderate to deep reddish-brown colour; also, a horse of this colour.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A small hard [[callus]] on the inner side of a horse's foreleg.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # An old, often repeated joke or story.^(AHD)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of a moderate to deep reddish-brown colour.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[chestnutty]]

+ * [[chestnut blight]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[castanet]]

+ * [[horse chestnut]]

+ * [[water chestnut]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}