junket

The story

1. Latin · derived fromiuncus“rush, reed”
2. Medieval Latin · derived fromiuncta
3. Middle English · derived fromjonket“basket made of rushes”
4. English todayjunket

From Middle English jonket (“basket made of rushes”), from Medieval Latin iuncta, possibly from Latin iuncus (“rush, reed”) and therefore a possible doublet of jonquil. Meaning shifted to “feast or banquet” by 1520s, probably via the notion of a picnic basket. This in turn led to the sense of “pleasure trip” (1814), and then to specifically to “trip made ostensibly for business but which entails merrymaking or entertainment” by 1886 in American English.

Words from the same roots