Gin is literally named after juniper — the word gin is just a shortening of Dutch genever (juniper), making the spirit and the berry etymological twins.
An evergreen shrub or small tree of the cypress family, bearing aromatic berry-like cones used to flavor gin and in traditional medicine.
From Latin iūniperus (juniper), of uncertain ultimate origin. Some scholars connect it to iūnior (younger) because new green growth appears alongside old berries, while others see a connection to a pre-Latin Mediterranean word. The Latin word was borrowed into Old French as genevre and English as juniper. Key roots: iūniperus (Latin: "juniper (uncertain deeper origin)").
Juniper berries are the defining ingredient of gin — and the word gin itself is just a shortening of genever (Dutch for juniper, from the same Latin root). So the spirit and the berry share the same name. Juniper has been used medicinally for thousands of years — Egyptian papyri mention it, and medieval Europeans burned juniper branches during plague outbreaks, believing the aromatic smoke would purify the air. In the American Southwest, juniper wood was so important to Navajo culture that the tree