jade English · revision 39623

+ The spelling ''jade'' covers a name for a worn-out horse, of unknown origin, and the name of the green stone, which comes from Spanish.^(Ayto 2005)^(OED 2026)^(Cresswell 2021) Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories calls the horse word the earlier homonym.^(MW Word Histories)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /d͡ʒeɪd/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|worn-out horse}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=c. 1386, Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Prologue}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The horse is [[inh|enm|jade]], of uncertain or unknown origin.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)^(ODE 2010) Barnhart suggests it is a variant of Scots and northern [[yaud]], a mare, borrowed perhaps through an Anglo-French [[m|xno|*jaud]] from a Scandinavian source such as [[non|jalda|t=mare]], itself apparently from a Finno-Ugric word for a mare;^(Barnhart 1988) Klein and Weekley also connect the word with ''jalda'',^(Klein 1966)^(Weekley 1921) and the American Heritage Dictionary compares [[sv|jälda|t=mare]] in Swedish dialect.^(AHD 2024) The OED finds the assumed link with ''yaud'' to be without reason.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) Johnson recorded Skinner's guess that it came from a word for a goad.^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A contemptuous name for a horse, especially a cart horse or a worn-out nag: c. 1386, in Chaucer's ''Nun's Priest's Prologue'', where the Host says "Be blithe, though thou ryde upon a jade".^(OED 2026)^(MW Word Histories) Barnhart dates the form ''iade'', a cart horse or hack, to about 1390.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From 1553 the word was also used playfully for any horse.^(OED 2026) From 1560 it was a term of abuse for a woman, and also a playful one like ''hussy'' or ''minx'';^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) it was applied to Fortune and Nature personified (1594) and, rarely, to a man (1608).^(OED 2026) The verb, to wear a horse out by hard work and then to tire or weary anyone, comes from the noun:^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) the OED dates it to 1615, Barnhart to 1606 in Shakespeare's ''Antony and Cleopatra'',^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) and Merriam-Webster to 1524.^(MWU 2024) The adjective ''jaded'' goes back to the horse, not to the woman.^(Cresswell 2021) In Scotland and northern England the dialect forms ''jaud'' and ''yaud'' meant a mare or an old horse.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1386 – a poor or worn-out horse.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1553 – playfully, any horse.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1560 – a term of abuse for a woman.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1606 – verb, to tire, weary, in Barnhart's dating.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1615 – verb, to wear out a horse by overwork.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1627 – verb, to become tired, flag.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1859 – (US slang) a long prison sentence.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # (archaic) A worn-out, worthless or bad-tempered [[horse]]; a [[nag]].^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+ # (archaic or humorous) A woman thought of as wilful or disreputable; a [[hussy]] or [[minx]].^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To tire out or dull by overwork or too much of something.^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[jaded]]

+ * [[jadish]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|green stone}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1595, W. Raleigh, Discoverie of Guiana|origins=la īlia}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The stone is [[bor|fr|jade]],^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) first in the phrase [[m|fr|le jade]] (1667), a misdivision of the earlier [[m|fr|l'ejade]] (1633), when the word was still unfamiliar.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) The French word comes from [[es|ijada|t=flank]] in the phrase [[m|es|piedra de ijada|t=stone of the flank]], recorded in Monardes in 1569,^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) so called because the stone was believed to cure colic and pain in the side.^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2024)^(MW Word Histories) The Spanish noun comes from [[la-vul|*īliāta]], from [[la|īlia|t=flanks, groin]], plural of [[m|la|īlium]], the source of [[ileum]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023) Collins and Dictionary.com put [[it|giada]] between the Spanish and the French word;^(Collins 2023)^(Dictionary.com 2016) the OED records [[m|it|iada]] in Florio's Italian dictionary of 1598.^(OED 2026) The same belief gave the stone its other name, [[nephrite]], from [[grc|νεφρός|tr=nephrós|t=kidney]].^(OED 2026)^(MW Word Histories)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The green stone: 1595, in Walter Raleigh's ''Discoverie of Guiana'', where "a kinde of greene stones which the Spaniards call Piedras Hijadas" are used as spleen stones.^(OED 2026)^(MW Word Histories) Etymonline and Barnhart date the form ''iada'' to the 1590s and ''jade'' to 1721–41, in Chambers's ''Cyclopaedia'';^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Merriam-Webster dates the stone to about 1741.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Jade was valued in western Europe both as an ornament and as a cure for kidney and internal complaints.^(MW Word Histories) The name is applied to two different minerals, [[nephrite]] and [[jadeite]], which look alike and were used for tools and ornaments because they are hard.^(OED 2026)^(MW Word Histories) It has been an adjective for the colour, a bluish or pale green, since 1865 according to Etymonline, or 1921 according to the OED.^(Etymonline)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1569 – Spanish ''piedra de yjada''.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1595 – the stone, in Raleigh.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1633 – French ''l'ejade''.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1667 – French ''le jade''.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1721–41 – the spelling ''jade'' in English.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1865 – as an adjective, in Etymonline's dating.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1921 – the colour, jade green.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A hard, usually green stone, either [[jadeite]] or [[nephrite]], carved into [[ornament|alt=ornaments]] and jewellery.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # An object carved from jade.^(MWU 2024)

+ # A pale or bluish green, the colour of jade.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Made of jade, or of the colour of jade: ''a jade vase''.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[jadeite]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ileum]]

+ * [[nephrite]]

+ * [[yaud]]

+ * [[nag]]

+ * [[hack]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}