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Origin and history of jest

jest(n.)

early 13c., geste, "narrative of exploits," from Old French geste "action, exploit," from Latin gesta "deeds," neuter plural of gestus, past participle of gerere "to carry, behave, act, perform" (see gest, which preserves the original sense). Sense descended through "idle tale" (late 15c.) to "mocking speech, raillery" (1540s) to "joke" (1550s). Also "a laughing-stock" (1590s). Jest-book is from 1690s.

also from early 13c.

jest(v.)

1520s, "to speak in a trifling manner;" 1550s, "to joke, say or do something meant to amuse," from Middle English gesten "recite a tale" (late 14c.), from geste "action, exploit" (see jest (n.)). Related: Jested; jesting.

also from 1520s

Entries linking to jest

gest(n.)

"famous deed, exploit," more commonly "story of great deeds, tale of adventure," c. 1300, from Old French geste, jeste "action, exploit, romance, history" (of celebrated people or actions), from Medieval Latin gesta "actions, exploits, deeds, achievements," noun use of neuter plural of Latin gestus, past participle of gerere "to carry on, wage, perform," which de Vaan says is considered to be from the same root as agere "to set in motion, drive forward, do, perform" (from PIE root *ag- "to drive, draw out or forth, move"). Now only as a deliberate archaism. Jest (n.) is the same word, with a decayed sense.

jester(n.)

mid-14c., gestour, jestour "a minstrel, professional reciter of romances," agent noun from gesten "recite a tale" (a jester's original function), from geste "action, exploit" (see jest (n.)). Sense of "buffoon in a prince's court" is from c. 1500. Sterne (1759) uses jestee, but it is rare.

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Trends of jest

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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joke

1660s, joque, "a jest, something done to excite laughter," from Latin iocus "joke, jest, sport, pastime" (source also of French jeu, Spanish juego, Portuguese jogo, Italian gioco), from Proto-Italic *joko-, from PIE *iok-o- "word, utterance," from root *yek- (1) "to speak" (cogna

scoff

mid-14c., "jest, make light of something;" mid-15c., "ridicule, mock," from a noun meaning "contemptuous ridicule" (c. 1300...), which is from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse skaup, skop "mockery, ridicule," Middle Danish skof "jest, mockery...perhaps from Proto-Germanic *skub-, *skuf- (source also of Old English scop "poet," Old High German scoph "fiction, sport, jest...

jape

late 14c., "to trick, beguile, jilt; to mock," also "to act foolishly; to speak jokingly, jest pleasantly," perhaps from...It was revived in the benign sense of "say or do something in jest" by Scott, etc., and has limped along since in stilted...

scoptic

1660s, "mocking, scoffing," from Latinized form of Greek skōptikos "given to mockery," from skōptein "to mock, jest."...

retort

Applied to exchanges of jest or sarcasm by c. 1600, hence "say or utter sharply and aggressively in reply" (1620s)....

pun

"a Conceit arising from the use of two Words that agree in the Sound, but differ in the Sense" [Addison]; "An expression in which the use of a word in two different applications, or the use of two different words pronounced alike or nearly alike, presents an odd or ludicrous idea

howler

1800, "animal that howls," originally in reference to the South American monkey, agent noun from howl (v.). Meaning "glaring blunder, ridiculous mistake" is first recorded 1890. In early telephony (1886 - c. 1920) the name of a device used by the exchange to produce a loud howl i

wit

"mental capacity," Old English wit, witt, more commonly gewit "understanding, intellect, sense; knowledge, consciousness, conscience," from Proto-Germanic *wit- (source also of Old Saxon wit, Old Norse vit, Danish vid, Swedish vett, Old Frisian wit, Old High German wizzi "knowled

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