Origins
The word 'gin' is a clipped form of 'genever' (also spelled 'geneva'), borrowed from Dutch 'jenever,' meaning juniper. The Dutch word descends from Old French 'genevre,' itself from Latin 'iūniperus' (juniper tree). English 'juniper' comes from the same Latin source via a different phonological path, making 'gin' and 'juniper' etymological doublets — two English words from the same ancestor that arrived by different routes.
The drink originated in the Low Countries. Dutch and Flemish distillers began producing juniper-flavored spirits in the sixteenth century, initially as a medicinal preparation. The physician Franciscus Sylvius is sometimes credited with the invention, though this attribution is disputed. What is certain is that by the early seventeenth century, 'jenever' was widely produced and consumed in the Netherlands.
English soldiers encountered the drink during the Eighty Years' War and the Thirty Years' War, when English forces were allied with the Dutch against Spain. The soldiers reportedly drank genever before battle to calm their nerves — giving rise to the expression 'Dutch courage.' They brought the taste for genever back to England.
Development
The political connection deepened in 1689, when the Dutch William of Orange became King William III of England. His government encouraged domestic gin production and imposed heavy duties on imported French brandy (France being the enemy). This economic shift, combined with lax regulation, created the conditions for London's infamous Gin Craze.
Between roughly 1720 and 1751, gin consumption in London reached catastrophic levels. Cheap, barely regulated gin was sold from shops, street stalls, barrows, and private homes. At the peak, London had over 7,000 gin shops. Annual consumption was estimated at over two gallons per person, including children. The social consequences — poverty, crime, infant mortality — prompted a series of parliamentary Gin Acts, the most effective being the 1751 act that restricted retail sales and raised licensing costs.
The word 'gin' in its shortened form is first attested around 1714. The fuller form 'geneva' was folk-etymologized as a connection to the Swiss city of Geneva, but there is no historical link — the resemblance is coincidental.
Legacy
Gin's modern prestige revival began in the nineteenth century with the development of London Dry Gin, a cleaner, more refined spirit than the rough product of the Gin Craze era. The combination of gin and quinine-bearing tonic water, developed by British colonials in India as an anti-malarial measure, became the iconic gin and tonic. The twenty-first century has seen an enormous craft gin boom, with hundreds of new distilleries worldwide.