The Etymology of Bean
Bean is one of the oldest food words in English, reaching back through Old English bΔan to Proto-Germanic *baunΕ.βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ Beyond Germanic the trail goes cold: some etymologists link it to Latin faba (the source of fava), but the sound correspondences are irregular and the connection remains disputed. For most of English history, bean meant the broad bean (Vicia faba), the only legume widely cultivated in northern Europe. Then the Columbian Exchange brought a flood of New World legumes β kidney beans, lima beans, runner beans, string beans β and English simply extended the old word to all of them. The phrase full of beans (energetic) dates to the 1840s and may come from horses fed beans for stamina; spill the beans (reveal a secret) is American, around 1910, with murky origins.