Etymology Map
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Wine

4 stages from Latin to English.

Today it means an alcoholic drink made from fermented grape juice

Where does the word "wine" come from? It comes from Latin vinum, passing through West Germanic and Old English before entering English (1200s).

1
Stage 1 of 4
vinum
Latin · classical
"wine"
Pliny the Elder devotes a whole book of his Natural History (Book 14) to vines and the wines of the Roman world
2
Stage 2 of 4
*wīn
West Germanic · ancient
"wine"
Germanic tribes bought Roman wine across the Rhine and Danube frontiers; the same loan gives German Wein and Gothic wein
3
Stage 3 of 4
wīn
Old English · medieval
"wine"
Beowulf describes wine poured from 'wondrous vessels' at the feast in the hall of Heorot
4
Stage 4 of 4
wine
English · 1200s
"fermented grape drink"
Eleanor of Aquitaine's marriage to Henry II in 1152 tied Bordeaux to the English crown, and its 'claret' became England's everyday wine
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Read the full story

Wine’s story begins in Latin: vinum meant “wine.” Pliny the Elder devotes a whole book of his Natural History (Book 14) to vines and the wines of the Roman world. By ancient, the word had taken hold in West Germanic as *wīn. Germanic tribes bought Roman wine across the Rhine and Danube frontiers; the same loan gives German Wein and Gothic wein. From there it passed into Old English as wīn by medieval. Beowulf describes wine poured from 'wondrous vessels' at the feast in the hall of Heorot. It reached English by 1200s as wine. Eleanor of Aquitaine's marriage to Henry II in 1152 tied Bordeaux to the English crown, and its 'claret' became England's everyday wine. Today, wine means an alcoholic drink made from fermented grape juice.