Online Etymology Dictionary

Jugoslavia: alternative Latinized spelling of Yugoslavia. Related: Jugoslav; Jugoslavian.
jugs (n.): "a woman's breasts," 1920, first recorded in Australian slang, short for milk jugs, from jug (n.).
jugular (adj.): 1590s, "pertaining to the throat or neck" (especially and originally in reference to the great veins of the neck), from Modern Latin jugularis, from Latin iugulum "collarbone, throat, neck," diminutive of iugum "yoke," related to iungere "to join," from PIE *yeug- "to join" (cognates: Sanskrit yugam "yoke," yunjati "binds, harnesses," yogah "union;" Hittite yugan "yoke;" Greek zygon "yoke," zeugnyanai "to join, unite;" Old Church Slavonic igo, Old Welsh iou "yoke;" Lithuanian jungas "yoke," jungiu "fastened in a yoke;" Old English geoc "yoke;" probably also Latin iuxta "close by"). As a noun, 1610s, short for jugular vein.
Jugurthine (adj.): "pertaining to Jugurtha, king of Numidia in North Africa (died 104 B.C.E.). The war against him (c. 110-106 B.C.E.) was chronicled by the Roman historian Sallust.
juice (n.): c. 1300, jus, juis, jouis, "liquid obtained by boiling herbs," from Old French jus "juice, sap, liquid" (13c.), from Latin ius "broth, sauce, juice, soup," from PIE root *yeue- "to blend, mix food" (cognates: Sanskrit yus- "broth," Greek zyme "a leaven," Old Church Slavonic jucha "broth, soup," Lithuanian juse "fish soup"). Meaning "the watery part of fruits or vegetables" is from early 14c. Meaning "liquor" is from 1828; that of "electricity" is first recorded 1896.
juice (v.): 1630s, "to suffuse with juice," from juice (n.). Meaning "to enliven" attested by 1964. Related: Juiced; juicing. Juiced (adj.) "drunk" is attested by 1946; later "enhanced or as if enhanced by steroids" (by 2003).
juicer (n.): agent noun in various senses from juice (v.); from 1892 as the name of an appliance for extracting juice; from 1928 as "an electrician;" by 1967 as "an alcoholic."
juicily (adv.): 1827, from juicy + -ly (2).
juicy (adj.): early 15c., "succulent," from juice (n.) + -y (2). Figurative sense "weathly, full of some desired quality" is from 1620s; that of "lively, suggestive, racy, sensational" is from 1883. Related: Juiciness.
jujitsu (n.): also ju-jitsu, 1875, from Japanese jujutsu, from ju "softness, gentleness" (from Chinese jou "soft, gentle") + jutsu "art, science," from Chinese shu, shut.
juju (n.1): object of religious veneration among West Africans, 1860, supposedly ultimately from French joujou "toy, plaything."
juju (n.2): "marijuana cigarette," 1940, supposedly a reduplication of the middle syllable of marijuana.
jujube (n.): late 14c., "date-like fruit from a tree found in Asia," from Old French jujube or Medieval Latin jujuba (plural), ill-formed medieval representatives of Late Latin zizyphum, from zizyphus, name of an Asiatic tree with datelike fruit, from Greek zizyphon, from Persian zayzafun. For consonant shift, compare jealous from zealous. The meaning "soft candy with date-like flavor" first recorded 1835.
juke (v.): "to duck, dodge, feint," by 1971, variant of jook (q.v.). From 1933 as "dance," especially at a juke-joint or to jukebox music; see jukebox. Related: Juked; juking.
jukebox (n.): also juke-box, "machine that automatically plays selected recorded music when a coin is inserted," 1939, earlier jook organ (1937), from jook joint "roadhouse, brothel" (1935), African-American vernacular, from juke, joog "wicked, disorderly," a word in Gullah (the creolized English of the coastlands of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida). This is probably from an African source, such as Wolof and Bambara dzug "unsavory." The adjective is said to have originated in central Florida (see "A Note on Juke," Florida Review, vol. VII, no. 3, spring 1938). The spelling with a -u- might represent a deliberate attempt to put distance between the word and its origins.
For a long time the commercial juke trade resisted the name juke box and even tried to raise a big publicity fund to wage a national campaign against it, but "juke box" turned out to be the biggest advertising term that could ever have been invented for the commercial phonograph and spread to the ends of the world during the war as American soldiers went abroad but remembered the juke boxes back home. ["Billboard," Sept. 15, 1945]
julep (n.): late 14c., "syrupy drink in which medicine is given," from Old French julep (14c.), from Medieval Latin julapium, from Arabic julab, from Persian gulab "a sweet drink," also "rose water," from gul "rose" (related to Greek rhodon, Latin rosa; see rose (n.1)) + ab "water," from PIE root *ap- (2) "water" (for which see water (n.1)). As the name of an iced, sugared alcoholic drink flavored with mint, 1787, American English.
Julia: fem. proper name, from Latin Iulia, fem. of Iulius (see Julius).
Julian (adj.): "pertaining to or derived from Julius Caesar, 1590s, originally and especially in reference to the calendar system that began with his reforms in 46 B.C.E. (superseded by the Gregorian). The masc. proper name is from Latin Iulianus, from Iulius. The Julianists were a sect of Monophysites who held the body of Christ to be incorruptible; they were named for their leader, Julian, bishop of Halicarnassus (early 6c.).
Julian period, a period of 7,980 Julian years proposed by Joseph Scaliger in 1582 as a universal standard of comparison in chronology, consisting of the years of the solar and lunar cycles and the cycle of the indiction multiplied into each other (28 x 19 x 15). The first years of these cycles coincided in the year 4713 B.C., from which the period is reckoned. The first year of the Christian era being found by calculation to correspond to the year 4714 of the Julian period, all previous and subsequent comparisons can be made by simple subtraction or addition. This period is still used in the computations of chronologists and astronomers. [Century Dictionary, 1899]
Julie: fem. proper name, Englishing of Julia.
julienne (n.): kind of clear soup made of chopped carrots and other vegetables cooked in meat-broth, 1841, from French (18c.), literally "(soup made) in the manner of Julien" (see Julian), presumably the name of an otherwise unknown cook (though Century Dictionary suggests "a French caterer in Boston"). Later of vegetables cut in small thin strips (1889). Related: Julienned.
Juliet: fem. proper name, from Italian Giulietta, diminutive of Giulia "Julia" (see Julia). Compare French Juliette. The Juliet cap (1904) was so called for its resemblance to pseudo-medieval headgear worn in stage productions of "Romeo and Juliet."
A Parisian fancy which is finding little favor here, is the Juliet cap. It is a net of beads or of meshed cord jewelled or beaded at the intersections. Clustered bunches of blossoms and foliage are set at each side of the cap, above the ears. ["Fabrics, Fancy-Goods & Notions," trade publication, New York, January 1904]
Julius: masc. proper name, from Latin Iulius (Spanish Julio, Italian Giulio), name of a Roman gens, perhaps a contraction of *Iovilios "pertaining to or descended from Jove," from PIE *iou-li-, from root *dyeu- (see Zeus).
July: seventh month, c. 1050, Iulius, from Anglo-French julie, Old French Juil, Jule (Modern French uses a diminutive, Juillet), from Latin Iulius "fifth month of the Roman calendar" (which began its year in March), renamed after his death and deification in honor of Gaius Julius Caesar, who was born in this month. In republican Rome it had been Quintilis, literally "fifth." Accented on the first syllable in English until 18c.; "the modern Eng. pronunciation is abnormal and unexplained" [OED]. Replaced Old English liða se æfterra "later mildness," from liðe "mild."
jumart (n.): fabulous hybrid animal, 1680s, from French jumart, jumare, from Provençal gemerre, gemarre, a word of uncertain origin.
jumble (v.): 1520s, "to move confusedly" (intransitive), perhaps coined on model of stumble, tumble, etc., and onomatopoeic or felt as suggestive of the action indicated. Transitive meaning "mix in a confused mass" is from 1540s. In 17c. it was yet another euphemism for "have sex with" (a sense first attested 1580s). Related: Jumbled; jumbling.
jumble (n.): "a confused mixture," 1660s, from jumble (v.). Jumble-sale is from 1931. The word meaning "type of thin, crisp cake" (1610s) is probably unrelated.
jumbo (adj.): "very large, unusually large for its type," 1882, a reference to Jumbo, name of the London Zoo's huge elephant (acquired from France, said to have been captured as a baby in Abyssinia in 1861), sold February 1882 to U.S. circus showman P.T. Barnum amid great excitement in America and great outcry in England, both fanned by Barnum.
"I tell you conscientiously that no idea of the immensity of the animal can be formed. It is a fact that he is simply beyond comparison. The largest elephants I ever saw are mere dwarfs by the side of Jumbo." [P.T. Barnum, interview, "Philadelphia Press," April 22, 1882]
The name is perhaps from slang jumbo "clumsy, unwieldy fellow" (1823), which itself is possibly from a word for "elephant" in a West African language (compare Kongo nzamba). OED suggests it is possibly the second element in Mumbo Jumbo. Century Dictionary says "The name was given as having an African semblance." As a product size, by 1886 (cigars). Jumbo jet attested by 1964. Jumbo was accidentally killed near St. Thomas, Ontario, Sept. 15, 1885, struck by a freight train while the circus was loading up to travel.
jump (v.): 1520s, "make a spring from the ground" (intransitive), a word with no apparent source in Old or Middle English, perhaps imitative (compare bump (v.)); another theory derives it from words in Gallo-Roman dialects of southwestern France (such as jumba "to rock, to balance, swing," yumpa "to rock") and says it might have been picked up during the Hundred Years War. Similarities have been noted to Swedish dialectal gumpa "spring, jump," German dialectal gampen "jump, hop," but OED finds no basis for a relationship.

It has superseded native leap, bound, and spring in most senses. Meaning "pass abruptly from one state to another" is from 1570s. Meaning "move suddenly with a leap" is from 1724. The transitive meaning "to attack, pounce upon" is from 1789; that of "to do the sex act with" is from 1630s. Related: Jumped; jumping.

Sense in checkers is from 1862. To jump to "obey readily" is from 1886. To jump to a conclusion is from 1704. To jump rope is from 1853; Jumping-rope (n.) is from 1805. Basketball jump-shot "shot made while the player is in the air" is from 1934; also used of billiard shots. Jump in a lake as a dismissive invitation is attested from 1912.
jump (n.): 1550s, "an act of jumping," from jump (v.). Figurative meaning "sudden abrupt rise" is from 1650s. Meaning "abrupt transition from one point to another" is from 1670s. Sense of "a parachute descent" is from 1922. Meaning "jazz music with a strong beat" first recorded 1937, in Count Basie's "One O'Clock Jump." Jump suit "one-piece coverall modeled on those worn by paratroopers and skydivers" is from 1948. To get a jump on "get ahead, get moving" is from 1910, perhaps a figurative use from the jump-spark that ignites an engine.
jump-start (v.): also jumpstart, "to start a car engine using battery booster cables," by 1970; see jump (n.) + start (v.). The sense of jump is that in the jump-spark ignition system, attested from 1883 in gas-lighting, from c. 1902 as a common way to start an automobile; hence also jumper "wire used to cut out ('jump over') part of a circuit or to close a gap," a sense attested from 1901 in telegraphy. Related: Jumpstarted; jumpstarting. Figurative use by 1975. Jump-leads "jumper-cables" is from 1969; jumper-cables from 1961.
jumpable (adj.): 1829, originally in horsemanship, from jump (v.) + -able.
jumper (n.1): "one who jumps," 1610s, agent noun from jump (v.). In basketball, "jump-shot," from 1934.
jumper (n.2): article of clothing, 1853, in reference to a kind of loose jacket with sleeves, apparently from mid-17c. jump (n.) "short coat worn by men," also "woman's under-bodice," a word of uncertain origin. It is perhaps from French jupe "skirt" (see jupe) or from some notion in jump (v.). Meaning "sleeveless dress worn over a blouse" is from 1967, short for jumper-dress (1907).
jumping (adj.): 1560s, present-participle adjective from jump (v.). Jumping-bean is from 1878 (earlier jumping-seed, 1870, also devil-bean, 1878). Jumping-jack is from 1821 as a kind of child's stringed toy; as a type of fitness exercise that somewhat mimics its motions, it is from 1921.
jumpy (adj.): "nervous," 1869, from jump (n.) in a sense "sudden involuntary movement" + -y (2). Related: Jumpiness. The jumps "state of nervous excitement" is from 1872.
jun.: old abbreviation of junior (adj.).
junco (n.): 1706 as a book-name (now obsolete) for the reed-sparrow, from Modern Latin junco "reed, bush," from Latin iuncus "reed, rush" (see jonquil). Later (by 1858) as the name of a North American snow-bird, from the use of the Modern Latin word as a genus name in the finch family.
junction (n.): 1711, "act of joining," from Latin iunctionem (nominative iunctio) "a joining, uniting," noun of action from past participle stem of iungere "to join together" (see jugular). Meaning "place where two or more things come into union or are joined" first attested 1836, American English, originally in reference to railroad tracks.
juncture (n.): late 14c., "place where two things are joined," from Latin iunctura "a joining, uniting, a joint," from iunctus, past participle of iungere "to join" (see jugular). Meaning "action of joining together" is from 1580s. Sense of "point in time" first recorded 1650s, probably from astrology.
June: sixth month, c. 1300, Iun, June, Juin, from Latin Iunius (mensis), probably a contraction of Iunonius, "sacred to Juno" (see Juno). Replaced Old English liðe se ærra "earlier mildness." Spelling variant Iune lingered until 17c.
june-bug (n.): also junebug, 1829, a popular name for various beetles which emerge in adult form and are active in June, from June + bug (n.). The earliest uses are Southern U.S.; in the north it is used of a different beetle (but from similar large white grubs).
Juneau: city in Alaska, settled 1881 and named for French-Canadian prospector Joe Juneau (1836-1899), who with Dick Harris founded the place shortly after gold was discovered nearby.
Jungian (adj.): 1921, "of or pertaining to the psychoanalytic school of Dr. Carl Gustav Jung" (1875-1961); for suffix, see -ian.
jungle (n.): 1776, "dense growth of trees and other tangled vegetation," such as that of the swampy regions at the base of the Himalayas in India, from Hindi jangal "desert, forest, wasteland, uncultivated ground," from Sanskrit jangala-s "arid, sparsely grown with trees," a word of unknown origin.

Extended by 1849 to other places overgrown by vegetation in a wild, tangled mass. Figurative sense "wild, tangled mass" of anything is from 1850. Meaning "place notoriously lawless and violent" is first recorded 1906, from Upton Sinclair's novel. Meaning "hobo camp" is from 1908. Asphalt jungle (1949) is from William R. Burnett's novel title, made into a film 1950 by John Huston; blackboard jungle (1954) is from Evan Hunter's novel title and 1955 movie.

Jungle fever "remittent malignant fever prevalent in India and tropical regions" is from 1803. Jungle gym appears in advertisements from 1921, originally one word, made by Junglegym Inc., Chicago, U.S. Jungle bunny, derogatory for "black person," attested from 1966.
junior (adj.): late 13c., "younger, not as old as another," from Latin iunior "younger, more young," comparative of iuvenis "young; a young man," from PIE root *yeu- "vital force, youthful vigor" (see young (adj.)). Used after a person's name to mean "the younger of two" from late 13c. Abbreviation Jr. is attested from 1620s. Meaning "of lesser standing, more recent" is from 1766. That of "meant for younger people, of smaller size" is from 1860. Junior miss "young teenage girl" is from 1907. In U.S. colleges, "pertaining to the third-year." Junior college first attested 1896; junior high school is from 1909.
The junior high school is rapidly becoming the people's high school. The percentage of pupils completing the ninth year is constantly rising where junior high schools have been established. [Anne Laura McGregor, "Supervised Study in English for Junior High School Grades," New York, 1921]
junior (n.): "a person younger than another; one of less experience or standing," 1520s, from junior (adj.). Generically as a name for a young boy, a young son from 1917, American English. In the U.S. college sense "student in the third year" from 1862.
juniority (n.): "state of being younger, opposite of seniority, 1590s, from junior (adj.) + -ity.
juniper (n.): coniferous evergreen shrub of northern regions, late 14c., gynypre, etc. (later altered to conform to Latin), from Latin iuniperus "the juniper tree" (source of Old French genevre, French genièvre, Spanish enebro, Portuguese zimbro, Italian ginepro, and, via Old French, Middle Dutch genever), a word of uncertain origin.

Perhaps it is related to iunco "reed," but there are phonetic difficulties. Watkins has it from PIE *yoini-paros "bearing juniper berries," from *yoi-ni- "juniper berry," perhaps from a non-IE language, + *-paro "producing." Applied to various North American species from 1748. In the English Bible (late 14c.), it renders Hebrew rethem, the name of a white-flowered shrub unrelated to the European evergreen, as the Latin word does in the Vulgate.
Junius: masc. proper name, from Latin Junius, name of a Roman gens. In U.S. history, the pseudonym of the author of a famous series of letters in the "Public Advertiser" from 1768-1772 critical of crown policy. Related: Junian.
junk (n.1): mid-14c., junke "old cable or rope," cut in bits and used for caulking, etc., a nautical word of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old French junc "rush, reed," also used figuratively as a type of something of little value, from Latin iuncus "rush, reed" (but OED finds "no evidence of connexion").

It was extended to "old refuse from boats and ships" (1660s), then to "old or discarded articles of any kind" (1884), usually with a suggestion of reusability. Meaning "salt meat used on long voyages" is from 1762. Meaning "narcotic drug" is from 1925. Junk food is from 1971; junk art is from 1961; junk mail first attested 1954; junk bond from 1979.