Forms 2–6 Iohan, 3–5 Ion, 4 Ioan, Ioon, 4–6 Ihon, 4–7 Iohn, 5 Ione, 6 Iohne, 7– John. [= OF. Jehan, F. Jean:—L. Joannes (later Johannes), a. Gr. Ἰωάννης, ad. Heb. yōχānān, in full y’hōχānān Johanan, or Jehohanan, explained as ‘Jah (or Jahveh) is gracious.’]
1. A masculine Christian name, that of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist; hence, from early ME. times one of the commonest in England. b. Also used as a representative proper name for a footman, butler, waiter, messenger, or the like, and in other ways: see quots., and cf. JACK, JOHNNY (of which the transferred use is much more marked).
[c. 1160. Hatton Gosp., John i. 6. Man wæs fram gode asend þæs name wæs Iohannes.]
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 127. He is þet soðe lomb alswa Sancte Iohan þe baptist cweð.
c. 1200. Ormin, 707. Forr att te come off Sannt Iohan Bigann all ure blisse. Ibid., 714. Sannt Iohan Bapptisste comm Biforenn Cristess come.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 78. Þæt was sein Iohan, in his moder wombe. Ibid., 106. He iseih his deorewurðe moder teares, & sein Iohannes euangelistes, & te oðre Maries.
c. 1275. Passion our Lord, 223, in O. E. Misc., 43. Ion hedde enne mantel of cendal hym abute.
1297. R. Glouc. 7147. Seint Ion þe ewangelist. Ibid., 9924. Richard … ȝef is broþer Ion [rhyme anon] Þe erldom of gloucestre. Ibid., 11751. Sir Ion le fiz Ion.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 167 (Cott.). Sithen o þe baptist Iohan [Fairf. Ioan, Gött. iohn, Trin. Ion] þat Iesu baptist in flum Iordan. Ibid., 171. Siþen o lons [v.rr. Iones, ionis] baptisyng.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 415. Al þat euere Marke made Mathew, Iohn [1393 C. VIII. 24 Iohan] and Lucas.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 325. On Seint Ihones day. Ibid. Ioon cam to blisse wiþouten killing.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 264/2. Ion, propyr name (S. Ione, P. Iohn), Johannes.
1549. Latimer, 3rd Serm. bef. Edw. VI. (Arb.), 77. Some saye, you are Iohan Baptiste.
b. 1633. B. Jonson, Tale Tub, IV. ii. All constables are truly Johns for the King, Whate’er their names, be they Tony or Roger.
1838. Col. Hawker, Diary (1893), II. 141. I knocked down 16 geese and sacked ‘every man John’ of them.
1848. Thackeray, Bk. Snobs, ii. Suddenly … her Majesty’s own crimson footmen, with epaulets and black plushes, came in. It was pitiable to see the other poor Johns slink off at this arrival!
1883. J. P. Groves, From Cadet to Captain, ii. 15. A roar of laughter greeted my speech, for my ignorance of the manners and customs of Sandhurst cadets prevented my knowing that ‘John’ was a generic title applied to all first-termers.
† 2. A plant: old name for a variety of pink; usually SWEET JOHN, q.v. Obs.
1572. Plat, Floures Philos., Addr. to Rdr. The Iohn so sweete in shewe and smell, distincte by colours twaine, Aboute the borders of their beds in seemelie sighte remaine.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. clxxiv. 478. Of Sweete Iohns, and Sweete Williams. Armeria alba, White Iohns. Armeria rubra, Red Iohns.
† 3. Sir John: a familiar or contemptuous appellation for a priest: from SIR as rendering L. dominus at the Universities. Cf. also MESS JOHN. Sir John Lack-latin: see LACK-LATIN A. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Nun’s Pr. Prol., 44. Com neer thou preest, com hyder thou sir Iohn.
1553. Pilkington, in Strype, Eccl. Mem. (1721), III. I. xii. 114. Who is meeter for any of these businesses than Sir Iohn Lack-latin? Ibid. (1721), xxxiii. 253. Instead of a faithful and painful teacher, they hire a Sir Iohn, which hath better skill in playing at tables, or in keeping of a garden, than in God’s word.
1594. ? Greene, Selimus, Wks. 1881–3, XIV. 264. But our Sir Iohn beshrew thy hart, For thou hast ioynd vs, we cannot part.
1653. Baxter, Worc. Petit. Def., 30. Most would have a Masse-Priest or Reading Sir John, that would humour them for a little.
4. Prefixed to another word, so as to form a name or nickname, or used in a phrase with specific sense. Such are John Blunt (cf. JACK sb.1 35), John Cheese; John-a-dogs, ? a dog-whipper; John-a-dreams, a dreamy fellow; one occupied in idle meditation; John-a-droyne (?); John-a-nods, one who is nodding, or not quite awake; John Company, a humorous appellation of the East India Company, taken over from the name Jan Kompanie, by which the Dutch E.I.C., and now the Dutch government, are known to natives in the East: see quot. 1785; John Crow, a name of the Turkey Buzzard in Jamaica; John Doe (Eng. Law), the name given to the fictitious lessee of the plaintiff, in the (now obsolete) mixed action of ejectment, the fictitious defendant being called Richard Roe; John Dringle (?); John-go-to-bed-at-noon, a popular name for the Goat’s-beard, Tragopogon pratensis (also simply Go-to-bed-at-noon: see GO v. VIII.), or other flowers that close about midday, as the Pimpernel and the Star-of-Bethlehem; † John-hold-my-staff, † John-of-all-trades, † John-out-of-office = corresp. phrases with Jack (JACK sb.1 36); John Scott, an artificial fly: = Jock Scott; John Thomas, a generic name for a livery servant; John Thomson’s man, Sc. [origin lost: Jamieson suggested Joan Thomson’s man, but this is not the form exemplified], a proverbial appellation for a man who is guided by his wife; † John Trot, a man of slow or uncultured intellect, a bumpkin, a clown. For John BARLEYCORN, John CHINAMAN, CHEAP John, POOR JOHN, etc., see the other words.
1613. Jackson, Creed, II. xxviii. § 5. Never to swerve from the beadle of beggars or *John-a-dogs his determinations and resolutions in any point of logic, philosophy, or metaphysics.
1602. Shaks., Ham., II. ii. 594. I, a dull and muddy-metled Rascal, peake Like *Iohn a-dreames.
1876. Henley, Bk. Verses (1888), 91. Kate-a-Whimsies, John-a-Dreams, Still debating, still delay.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 214. Hogis head in hogstowne is no *Iohn a droyne.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, P j b. That poor Iohn a Droynes his man,… a great big-boand thresher.
1603. Harsnet, Pop. Impost., xxiii. 160. Hee would say The Apostle wrote like a good plaine *Iohn a Nods.
1608. Armin, Nest Ninn. (1880), 57. His name is Iohn,… but neither Iohn a nods, nor Iohn a Dreames.
1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 142. For all the buddis of *Iohne Blunt, quhen he abone clymis.
a. 1568. Ascham, Scholem., I. (Arb.), 54. If thou be thrall to none of theise, Away good Peek goos, hens *Iohn Cheese.
[1785. trans. Sparrmann’s Voy. Cape G. Hope, etc. x. II. 21. The ignorant Hottentots and Indians not having been able to form any idea of the Dutch East-India Company,… the Dutch from the very beginning in India, politically gave out the company for one individual powerful prince, by the christian name of Jan or John.… On this account I ordered my interpreter to say farther, that we were the children of *Jan Company, who had sent us out to view this country.
1808. Ld. Minto in India (1880), 184 (Y.). The business is pleasant now, consisting principally of orders to countermand military operations, and preparations, and to save Johnny Company’s cash.
1832. Marryat, N. Forster, III. iv. 46. John Company will some day find out the truth of the old proverb, ‘Penny wise and pound foolish!’
1886. Mrs. Lynn Linton, Paston Carew, I. ii. 22. He was offered a position in India, in the service of John Company, under whose flag, as we know, the pagoda-tree was worth shaking.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. xviii. 274. The security here spoken of … is at present become a mere form: and *John Doe and Richard Roe are always returned as the standing pledges for this purpose.
1841. S. Warren, Ten Thous. a-Year, I. viii. 245. John Doe further says that one Richard Roe (who calls himself … a ‘Casual Ejector,’) came and turned him out, and so John Doe brings his action against Richard Roe.
1882. Farrar, Early Chr., II. 506. So common was it [the name Gaius] that it was selected in the Roman law-books to serve the familiar purpose of John Doe and Richard Roe in our own legal formularies.
1597. 1st Pt. Return fr. Parnass., III. i. 918. Everie *Iohn Dringle can make a booke in the commendacions of temperance againste the seven deadlie sinns.
1758. Pultney, in Phil. Trans., L. 508. Our country people long since called it *John-go-to-bed-at-noon.
1897. Willis, Flow. Plants, II. 373. The flower-heads … close up at midday, whence its common name of ‘John-go-to-bed-at-noon.’
1682. 15 Comf. Marriage, vi. 47. The poor Gentleman at home is like *John Hold-my-staff, she must Rule, Govern, Insult, Brawl.
1639. J. Mayne, City Match, II. v. You mungrel, you *John of all Trades.
1672. R. Wild, Declar. Lib. Consc., 3. A Good King … who sees no reason for putting down Haberdashers, and Johns of all Trades.
1563. Foxe, A. & M. (1583), 2113. Who now (God be thanked) is *Iohn out of office, and glad of his Neighbours good will.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, x. (1880), 375. *John Scott … is a very tasty-looking fly.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxii. 4. God gif ȝe war *Johne Thomsounis man.
1637. R. Monro, Exp. Scots Regim., II. 30. Some will alleage, he was Iohn Thomsons man. I answer, it was all one, if shee was good: for all stories esteeme them happie, that can live together man and wife, without contention.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., xxxviii. ‘The deil’s in the wife!’ said Cuddie; ‘d’ye think I am to be John Tamson’s man, and maistered by women a’ the days o my life?’
1712. Steele, Spect., Nos. 296 and 314. [Letters signed] *John Trott.
1753. Foote, Eng. in Paris, Epil. The merest John Trot in a week you shall zee Bien poli, bien frizê, tout à fait un Marquis.
1762. Colman, Mus. Lady, II. i. Our travelling gentry … return from the tour of Europe as mere English boors as they went—John Trot still.
5. St. John’s, in composition. † St. John’s berry, the barberry. St. John’s bread, the fruit of the carob-tree (see CAROB 1); also the tree itself. † St. John’s disease, † St. John’s evil, a name for epilepsy. † St. John’s grass = St. John’s-wort. St. John’s seal, the plant Solomon’s Seal. St. John’s-wort, the common English name for plants of the genus HYPERICUM.
1561. Hollybush, Hom. Apoth., 22 b. *S. Ihons berries called in Latine Berberis.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Algarrova, Carobes, or *S. Iohns bread.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, III. lxxv. 1241. This of some is called S. Iohns bread, and thought to be that which is translated Locusts, whereon S. Iohn did feed.
1706. Phillips, St. John’s Bread, a kind of Shrub.
1883. J. B. Thompson, in Harper’s Mag., Sept., 622/1. The St.-John’s-bread-tree, which does not bear until seventy years of age.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 42. To preserue one from the Falling sicknesse, otherwise called *S. Iohns disease.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 339. Against the falling sickness, called *Saint Johns-evill.
1538. Turner, Libellus, B j b. Hypericon … uulgus appellat *Saynt Iohns gyrs.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. cl. § 3. 433. S. Iohns woort, or S. Iohns grasse.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 61. *Saint Iohnes seale, of Ruellius Salomons seale: of Monardus, Saint Maries seale.
14[?]. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 590/31. Iperica, *seynt Iohnys worte.
1551. Turner, Herbal, I. E iij. Great saint Iohnes wurte. Ibid. A kynde of hyperici, called in englishe saint Iohns grass, or saynt Iohns wurt.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, I. ii. 4. Asswaging the heat with Oyle extracted from St. John’s-woort.
1794. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xxv. 373. Upright St. John’s Wort is an elegant species growing in woods and heaths.
1861. Delamer, Fl. Gard., 102. The large St. John’s Wort … has a very showy flower, almost filled with a silky tasselled tuft of stamens with red anthers…. Tutsan is a hardy shrubby St. John’s Wort.
