Where does “blackjack” come from?
I need to work through this chain carefully, but I notice there's a problem: the chain provided doesn't form a coherent etymology for "blackjack."
The chain shows:
- English black | Portuguese jaca | Malayalam ചക്ക | Old Norse bleikr | Proto-Indo-European bhleg- | Proto-Indo-European bhleg- | Proto-Indo-European bʰleyǵ-
This appears to conflate two separate etymologies:
1. "black" (from PIE bʰleyǵ- through Old Norse bleikr)
2. "jack" (possibly from Portuguese jaca through Malayalam ചക്ക, which is jackfruit)
However, the actual etymology of "blackjack" (the weapon, card game, or drink) doesn't follow this path. "Jack" in "blackjack" has different origins depending on the sense
blackjack (English): A common gambling card game in casinos, where the...
Definitions
- A common gambling card game in casinos, where the...
Ancestry of “blackjack”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | black | Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and... |
| 2 | Middle English | blake | Alternative form of blak |
| 3 | Old English | blāc | shining, white, pale; bleak, pale, pallid, wan,... |
| 4 | Old English | -ian | Forms verbs from nouns and adjectives |
| 5 | Old English | -ōjan | — |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | -ōn | Creates denominative verbs from nouns; Creates... |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | -ōną | Creates denominative verbs from nouns; Creates... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -eh₂yéti | Creates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 11 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |
Words derived from “blackjack”