quinine

Where does the word "quinine" come from? It comes from Quechua kina, passing through Spanish and French before entering English (1820s).

Quinine’s story begins in Quechua: kina meant “bark, specifically fever-tree bark.” Named the bark of the cinchona tree used to treat fevers. By 1630s, the word had taken hold in Spanish as quina. Jesuits in Lima sent 'Jesuit's bark' to Europe in the 1630s. From there it passed into French as quinine by 1820. Coined by French chemists Pelletier and Caventou when they isolated the active alkaloid. It reached English by 1820s as quinine. Isolated from cinchona bark by Pelletier and Caventou in 1820. Today, quinine means a bitter alkaloid derived from cinchona bark, historically used to treat malaria and to flavor tonic water.

1. Stage 1 · Quechua · pre-1500s kina "bark, specifically fever-tree bark", named the bark of the cinchona tree used to treat fevers.
2. Stage 2 · Spanish · 1630s quina "cinchona bark used as medicine", Jesuits in Lima sent 'Jesuit's bark' to Europe in the 1630s.
3. Stage 3 · French · 1820 quinine "the isolated anti-malarial alkaloid from cinchona bark", coined by French chemists Pelletier and Caventou when they isolated the active alkaloid.
4. Stage 4 · English · 1820s quinine "a bitter compound used to treat malaria", isolated from cinchona bark by Pelletier and Caventou in 1820.