No, guess not. I've learned something today; I'd never realized it could mean "dull' or "insipid," only "juvenile," from which I was assuming the "june" was derived from the French "jeune" ("young"). Lazy etymology strikes again.
The OED gives one of the definitions as "Puerile, childish; also, naïve. This use may owe its origin to the mistaken belief that the word is connected with L. juvenis young (comp. junior), or F. jeune young." So you're not the only one; that's actually the sense I'm familiar with, but I never really thought about the etymology.
Today's word is in Hindi, sidestepping this sort of problem.
3 comments:
Isn't it "jejeune"?
No, guess not. I've learned something today; I'd never realized it could mean "dull' or "insipid," only "juvenile," from which I was assuming the "june" was derived from the French "jeune" ("young"). Lazy etymology strikes again.
The OED gives one of the definitions as "Puerile, childish; also, naïve. This use may owe its origin to the mistaken belief that the word is connected with L. juvenis young (comp. junior), or F. jeune young." So you're not the only one; that's actually the sense I'm familiar with, but I never really thought about the etymology.
Today's word is in Hindi, sidestepping this sort of problem.
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