Etymology

jump

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Today it means: To propel oneself rapidly upward, downward and/or in any horizontal direction such that momentum causes the body to become airborne. Full definition →

Middle English jumpen ← Proto-Germanic *gumpōną ~ *gumbōną
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jump · verb, noun, adverb, adjective1

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*gumpōną ~ *gumbōną“to hop, skip, bounce”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromjumpen“to walk quickly, run, jump”
  3. English todayjump

From Middle English jumpen (“to walk quickly, run, jump”), probably of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gumpōną ~ *gumbōną (“to hop, skip, bounce”), an iterative verb. The OED suggests an imitative origin. Related to jumble. In the sense “to propel oneself” it displaced leap partially and spring largely. Cognates Cognate with German Low German jumpen (“to jump”), archaic German gumpen (“to jump, hop, bounce”), dialectal German gampen (“to hop”), Alemannic German gumpe (“to leap, jump”), Walser dialect kumpu, Old Norse gopta (“to jump; make jump”) Danish gumpe (“to jolt”), Swedish gumpa (“to jump”), Danish gimpe (“to move up and down”), Middle English jumpren, jumbren (“to mix, jumble”).

jump · noun2

Compare French jupe (“a long petticoat, a skirt”) and English jupon.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.