Zinfandel: An American English Word of Czech, German, Hungarian, and/or Slovak Origin

Abstract

Research on the origin of zinfandel has been going on for over fifty years, whereas investigation of the origin of the English word zinfandel has begun only recently. At first I thought that scrutiny of the word would require expertise in viticulture and enology. Lacking such knowledge, I abandoned the quest, but later realized that since the origin of a significans need not be parallel to the origin of a significandum, familiarity with grapes and wine, though helpful, was not essential. The search began anew and possible etymons turned up in Czech, German, Hungarian, and Slovak.

If American English zinfandal ∼ zinfandel ∼ zinfardel ∼ zinfidel ∼ zinfindel has only one immediate etymon, Czech cinifádl seems to be the best candidate. If it has a second immediate source, that source is probably German. Hungarian and Slovak are not likely sources of the English word.