- vintage
- mid-15c., "harvest of grapes, yield of wine from a vineyard," from Anglo-Fr. vintage (mid-14c.), from O.Fr. vendage "yield from a vineyard," from L. vindemia "a gathering of grapes, yield of grapes," from comb. form of vinum "wine" + stem of demere "take off" (from de- "from, away from" + emere "to take;" see exempt). Sense shifted to "age or year of a particular wine" (1746), then to a general sense of "being of an earlier time" (1883). Used of cars since 1928.