pine English · revision 7843

+ Pine, the tree, comes from Latin pīnus, while pine, to languish, is from Old English pīnian, to torment, which may go back to Latin poena, punishment.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /paɪn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|tree}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1000|origins=la pinus}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Old English [[bor|la|pinus|alt=pīn-|t=pine tree]], in compounds such as pīntrēow,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) coalescing in Middle English with Old French [[m|fro|pin]], also from Latin pīnus.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) Latin pīnus is cognate with Greek pítus, pine, and Sanskrit pītudāru, pine tree,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) perhaps from PIE *pi-nu-, from *peyh₁-, to be fat, swell, in reference to its sap or pitch.^(Etymonline) The native Old English word was furh, [[fir]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The tree, in compounds: about 1000;^(Barnhart 1988) pin about 1150, and pine before 1325, in the ''Cursor Mundi''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Fowler noted that the Scotch fir is in fact a pine and that the distinction concerns the botanist more than the man in the street.^(Etymonline) ''Pine-top'', cheap illicit whiskey, is Southern US slang by 1858.^(Etymonline) The [[pineapple]] first meant a pine cone (14th century) and was applied to the tropical fruit in the 17th century.^(Hoad 1986)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1000 – pīn- in compounds.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1150 – pin.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 14th century – pineapple, a pine cone.^(Hoad 1986)

+ * 1858 – pine-top (slang).^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An evergreen [[conifer|alt=coniferous]] tree of the genus Pinus, with needle-shaped leaves and woody cones.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The wood of such a tree.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Any of various similar trees or plants.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pine cone]]

+ * [[pine needle]]

+ * [[pine nut]]

+ * [[pinewood]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|languish}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=before 899|origins=la poena}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English pinen, [[inh|ang|pīnian|t=to torture, torment, cause to suffer]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from an assumed Old English *pīn, pain, punishment,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) a general Germanic word (compare German [[m|de|Pein]] and Old Norse pína),^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) possibly from Medieval or Vulgar Latin *pēna, from Latin [[m|la|poena|t=punishment, penalty]] (see [[penal]], [[pain]]),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) which probably entered Germanic with Christianity.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To cause to suffer: before 899, in Alfred's translation of Orosius.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ To torture or crucify is from about 1125, and to torment or punish from 1137.^(Barnhart 1988) To cause to starve is from about 1300,^(Etymonline) and to waste away with hunger, pain or desire, the main modern sense, from the early 14th century (before 1325),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) through the Middle English senses endure penance, suffer.^(Etymonline) To be consumed with longing is from the 16th century.^(Hoad 1986) The OED records an old noun pine, punishment, suffering, grief, from about 1160.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 899 – to cause suffering.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1125 – to torture.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1300 – to starve.^(Etymonline)

+ * before 1325 – to waste away.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 16th century – to long for.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To feel a lingering [[longing]], often for something lost.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To waste away from longing or [[grief]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(archaic)'' Intense longing or grief.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pining]]

+ * [[repine]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pineapple]]

+ * [[pain]]

+ * [[penal]]

+ * [[punish]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In Somerset dialect a pine was a pen for sheep or cattle, and in County Antrim the black-headed gull.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}