From names to words

jack

Jack, the everyday pet name for John, became English shorthand for any ordinary man — and then for any handy device that does a man's job, from the spit-turner to the car jack. Dutch Janke may lie behind Yankee, which Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Japanese then borrowed from American English.

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

From Middle Dutch to American English

From American English to Spanish

From American English to Brazilian Portuguese

From American English to Russian

From American English to Japanese

From English to French

500 BCEBiblical Hebrew

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

jack

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

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