grape Look up grape at Dictionary.com
mid-13c., from O.Fr. grape "bunch of grapes," from graper "pick grapes," from Frankish, from P.Gmc. *krappon "hook" (cf. O.H.G. krapfo "hook"). The original notion was "vine hook for grape-picking." The vine is not native to England. The word replaced O.E. winberige "wine berry." Grapefruit first recorded 1693 in Hans Sloane's catalogue of Jamaican plants; presumably it originated there from chance hybrids between other cultivated citrus. So called because it grows in clusters. Grapeshot is from 1747; originally simply grape, as a collective singular (1680s). Grapevine "rumor source" is 1862, from U.S. Civil War slang for "telegraph wires."
pinot Look up pinot at Dictionary.com
type of grape vine used in wine-making, 1912, Amer.Eng. variant spelling of Fr. pineau (attested in Eng. from 1763), from pin "pine (tree)" + dim. suffix -eau. So called from the shape of the grape clusters.
Shiraz Look up Shiraz at Dictionary.com
wine made in the district of Shiraz, a city in Persia, 1634. As the name for a red wine made from a type of grape grown in the Rhône valley of France, it is recorded from 1908, from Fr. syrah,the name apparently altered in Eng. on mistaken notion that the grape was brought to Europe from the Middle East by Crusaders.
grapnel Look up grapnel at Dictionary.com
1373, Anglo-Fr. dim. of O.Fr. grapil "hook," from grape "hook" (see grape).
raisin Look up raisin at Dictionary.com
c.1300, from Anglo-Fr. raycin (1278), O.Fr. raisin "grape, raisin," from V.L. *racimus, alteration of L. racemus "cluster of grapes or berries," probably from the same ancient lost Mediterranean language as Gk. rhax (gen. rhagos) "grape, berry."
zinfandel Look up zinfandel at Dictionary.com
1896, "red or white dry California wine," origin uncertain; used earlier as the name of the grape from which it was made (1880). The wine itself is said to have been known in U.S. since 1829. Some wine experts suggest a corruption of the Austrian grape name Zierfandler, though these grapes are not related to those of zinfandel. E.g. this article:
The similarity in the names Zinfandel and Zierfandler arouses some speculation. Modern vine identification systems did not yet exist in 1829, so it is conceivable that the cuttings George Gibbs imported to the USA had never been correctly identified in Austria.
Chardonnay Look up Chardonnay at Dictionary.com
1911, from Fr., originally the type of grape used to make the wine.
scuppernong Look up scuppernong at Dictionary.com
cultivated muscadine grape vine, 1811, from name of a river in North Carolina, U.S., probably from some Amer.Ind. word.
grappa Look up grappa at Dictionary.com
"brandy distilled from the residue of wine-making," 1893, from It., lit. "grapes" (see grape).
varietal (adj.) Look up varietal at Dictionary.com
1866, a biologists' word (first attested in Darwin), from variety. In ref. to wines, meaning "made from a single variety of grape" is first attested 1941, Amer.Eng. As a noun, in this sense, attested from 1955.
Catawba Look up Catawba at Dictionary.com
type of grape, 1857, from river in South Carolina, U.S., where it was found. The river is names for the Katahba Indian group and language (Siouan), from katapu "fork of a stream," itself a Muskogean loan-word.
sargasso Look up sargasso at Dictionary.com
"seaweed," 1598, from Port. sargasso "seaweed," perhaps from sarga, a type of grape (on this theory, the sea plant was so called from its berry-like air sacs), or from L. sargus, a kind of fish found in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, from Gk. sargos.
uvula Look up uvula at Dictionary.com
1392, from L.L. uvula, from L. uvola "small bunch of grapes," dim. of uva "grape," which is of unknown origin. So called from fancied resemblance of the organ to small grapes.
vine Look up vine at Dictionary.com
c.1300, from O.Fr. vigne, from L. vinea "vine, vineyard," from vinum "wine," from PIE *win-o-, from an Italic noun related to words for "wine" in Gk., Armenian, Hittite, and non-I.E. Georgian and West Semitic (cf. Heb. yayin, Ethiopian wayn); probably ult. from a lost Mediterranean language word *w(o)in- "wine." The European grape vine was imported to California via Mexico by priests in 1564.
muscatel Look up muscatel at Dictionary.com
c.1400, from O.Fr. muscadel, from Prov. *muscadel, dim. of muscat "(grape) with the fragrance of musk," from L.L. *muscatus, from muscus (see musk).
bin Look up bin at Dictionary.com
O.E. binne "basket, manger, crib," from Gaulish, from O.Celt. *benna, akin to Welsh benn "a cart," especially one with a woven wicker body. The same Celtic word seems to be preserved in It. benna "dung cart," Fr. benne "grape-gatherer's creel," Du. benne "large basket," from L.L. benna. Some linguists think there was a Germanic form parallel to the Celtic one.