English
jump
Jump comes from Middle English jumpen ‘to walk quickly, run, jump’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500jumpen‘to walk quickly’
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1597jump
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500jumpen‘to walk quickly’
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1597jump
Earliest quotation: a. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV: “It jumps with my humour.”
The story
The OED suggests an imitative origin. In the sense “to propel oneself” it displaced leap partially and spring largely.
Every English word from Middle English jumpen
Today it means
verb To propel oneself rapidly upward, downward and/or in any horizontal direction such that momentum causes the body to become airborne.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English jumpen / jump