jerkinn.¹

Brit.

/ˈdʒəːkɪn/, U.S.

/ˈdʒərkən/

Forms:

α. 1500s chyrkyn, 1500s girkin, 1500s gurkyn, 1500s gyrken, 1500s gyrkyn, 1500s ierkyn, 1500s iirkin, 1500s iirkyn, 1500s iyrkyn, 1500s jerken, 1500s jerkynge, 1500s jirken, 1500s–1600s ierken, 1500s–1600s ierkin, 1500s–1600s jerkyn, 1500s– jerkin, 1600s gurking, 1600s jerken, 1600s jerking, 1600s jirkin, 1600s jirkyn.

β. 1500s girke.

Origin: Of uncertain origin.

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Probably related to Dutch jurk child's outer garment (17th cent.), woman's dress (mid 19th cent.; plural jurken), German regional (Low German: East Friesland) jurken, jurk child's baptismal gown, (Low German: Westphalia) jürken (plural) kind of outer garments, although the nature of the relationship is unclear.It has been suggested that the disyllabic forms may have been the original type in the continental West Germanic languages, and may reflect an unattested Middle Dutch(Flemish) diminutive formation (compare Middle Dutch -ken -kin suffix) < Middle Dutch journeye , early modern Dutch jorneye kind of outer garment ( < Middle French journée : see jornay n. and compare jornet n.), with the final -en only later being interpreted as the weak plural ending. Such a form could have spread from Dutch into Low German and could also have been borrowed into English at an early date, with the pronunciation of the initial consonant still reflecting the French, while /j/ was substituted in Dutch and Low German at a later date (for a similar development compare Dutch jak /jak/ jacket: see jack n.¹). Alternatively, it has been suggested that German regional (Low German: East Friesland) jurken was borrowed from English, shortened to jurk, and then passed into Dutch; in this case, the origin of the English word would remain unknown.

Originally: a man's close-fitting jacket or doublet, often of leather, with or without sleeves and having a short skirt (now chiefly in historical contexts). In later use: a sleeveless blouse or jacket, a waistcoat.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > jerkin

jerkin1519

1519 in J. Raine Vol. Eng. Misc. N. Counties Eng. (1890) 33 For stellyng a jerkynge.

1532–3 Act 24 Henry VIII c. 13 §1 in Statutes of Realm (1963) III. 430 No Man under the said degrees..weare..any Silke other than saten damaske..or velvet in their sleveles cotes jakettes jerkins coyfes cappes purses or partelettes.

1576 G. Gascoigne Steele Glas Epil. sig. I.j^v What be they? women? masking in mens weedes? With dutchkin dublets, and with Ierkins iaggde?

1589 Voy. W. Towrson in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations i. 101 [They] haue their skinne of their bodies raced with diuers workes, in maner of a leather Ierkin.

1599 F. Thynne Animaduersions (1875) 31 A comone garmente daylye vsed, suche as we call a Ierken or Iackett without sleues.

1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iii. iii. 257 A plague of opinion, a man may weare it on both sides like a lether Ierkin .

1616 Sir R. Boyle in Lismore Papers (1886) I. 135 Iohn nagle sent me ffrize for a Ierkin and breeches for my own wearing.

1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. i. i. 10 By good luck, I had on me a Buff Jerkin, which they could not pierce.

1761 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy III. iv. 14 You are so fortunate a fellow, as to have had your jerkin made of a gum-taffeta, and the body-lining to it, of a sarcenet or thin persian.

1808 W. Scott Marmion i. viii. 30 Last, twenty yeomen, two and two, In hosen black, and jerkins blue.

1819 W. Irving Rip Van Winkle in Sketch Bk. i. 72 His dress was of the antique Dutch fashion—a cloth jerkin strapped round the waist—several pair of breeches, the outer one..decorated with rows of buttons down the sides, and bunches at the knees.

1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Jerkin, a waistcoat.

1843 G. Borrow Bible in Spain II. vii. 143 A shabby looking fellow, dressed in a jerkin and wearing a high crowned hat, attended as domestic.

1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest II. ix. 389 With nothing but his javelin and his leathern jerkin.

1963 Bakersfield Californian 4 Oct. 25/7 Nicely fitted jerkin and a smart pleated skirt to wear with pretty blouses, sweaters.

1978 L. Kramer Faggots 164 And anyway it's time to change, so off come military hat and boots and jerkin and chaps and jockstrap and cock ring, back into the closet they go.

2007 J. Turner Brainstorm i. 4 Security guards, in their yellow high-vis jerkins, were hired to pace the territory.

2015 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 22 Oct. 32/1 A medieval fad.., which began with them reading cheap romances and soon saw them wearing satin jerkins and gigot sleeves.

Compounds

jerkin maker n. now historical a person who makes jerkins for a living.

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1561 in S. Adams Househ. Accts. R. Dudley (1995) 130 Paid unto Francis Dixson jerkin maker..viijli. xviijd.

1589 J. Sparke in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations iii. 526 They..doe iagge their flesh..as workemanlike, as a Ierkinmaker with vs pinketh a ierkin.

2017 E. R. Standley in T. F. Martin & R. Weetch Dress & Society vii. 135 A jerkin maker's inventory details footwear, and indicates that someone specialising in the manufacture of one type of garment—jerkins—was not limited to selling them alone.

Derivatives

ˈjerkined adj. wearing a jerkin; also with modifying word specifying the type of jerkin.

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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > [adjective] > wearing clothing for body (and limbs) > other

kirtled1637

untuckered1713

jerkined1777

tabarded1837

doubleted1858

cardiganed1871

blouse-clad1892

saronged1934

sari'd1958

sweatshirted1977

1777 T. Burgess Bagley 42 But see where yonder jerkin'd Youth with steady aim At the close-bodied square of razil-beech..Poises the even globe.

1843 C. Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) i. 1 They did on many occasions lead their leather-jerkined soldiers to the death.

1869 C. M. Yonge Cameos xcvii, in Monthly Packet Nov. 436 Five hundred red jerkined men.

2011 Independent on Sunday (Nexis) 23 Oct. (Travel section) 66 The exposed inner structure of a 14th-century house, all gnarly and raw on the staircase and first floor, as if jerkined men with adzes have just finished sucking their teeth over it.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

jerkinadj.n.²

Brit.

/ˈdʒəːkɪn/, U.S.

/ˈdʒərkən/

Forms: 1600s ierkin, 1600s jerkin.

Origin: Apparently a borrowing from Quechua. Etymon: Quechua ch'arkini.

Etymology: Apparently ultimately < Quechua ch'arkini to prepare dried meat ( < ch'arki charqui n. + -ni to prepare), probably via an unattested (probably Spanish) intermediary which conveyed the word from the Andes to the Caribbean, hence parallel to the path shown by charqui n. Compare American Spanish charquear (see charqui v.). Compare later jerked adj.² and jerk v.² With use as noun compare earlier charqui n., jerk n.², and jerky n.²Compare also the following, apparently isolated, early use of †jerkin as a verb in English:c1625 Orders T. Warner Governour St Christofer in Whitelocke Papers (Longleat) II. f. 202 They jerkin salt or powder upp or otherwise preserve a Competent number of the said Turtles.

A. adj.

Designating beef that has been cured by being cut into long, thin strips and dried. Only in jerkin beef. Cf. jerk adj.¹ 1. Now historical and rare.Contemporary sources describe jerkin beef as a food of the Caribbean.

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the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > beef > [noun] > cured beef

jerkin beef1612

beef-ham1815

mess1855

pastrami1899

jerkin1954

1612 J. Smith Map of Virginia 17 As drie as their ierkin beefe in the West Indies.

1657 R. Ligon True Hist. Barbados 39 Jerkin Beef, which is hufled, and slasht through, hung up and dryed in the Sun.

1975 R. Myers Cross of Frankenstein v. 80 I sat down and pulled the jerkin beef from the blanket roll.

B. n.²

U.S. regional. Beef that has been cured by being cut into long, thin strips and dried; beef jerky.

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