The English word turnip is a relatively late formation, first attested in the 1530s. It appears to be a compound of turn and neep (the older English word for the same vegetable), though the exact logic of the compound is debated. The most common explanation is that turn refers to the rounded, turned shape of the root — as if shaped on a lathe. An alternative theory suggests turn may derive from an unattested French form, but the round-shape explanation has wider support.
The element neep has a much longer history in English. It derives from Old English naep, which was borrowed from Latin napus (turnip) during the period of Roman influence on Britain. The Latin word itself has no certain Indo-European etymology and may come from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean substrate language, as is the case with many Latin plant names. The Roman agricultural writer Columella, writing in the 1st century CE, discusses napus cultivation
The Old English naep remained the standard English word for the turnip throughout the medieval period. Middle English forms include nepe and nep. In Scotland and northern England, the word neep has survived into modern usage and remains the everyday term for the vegetable, particularly in the traditional Scottish dish of neeps and tatties (mashed turnips and potatoes), the standard accompaniment to haggis. The survival of neep in northern dialects while turnip prevailed in southern English is a common pattern in English dialectology, where older forms often
The Latin napus produced cognates across the Romance languages: French navet (turnip, also used figuratively to mean a bad film or book), Italian navone, Spanish nabo, and Portuguese nabo. The French navet shows a diminutive formation, while the others preserve the base form more directly.
The related word canola is also derived from Latin napus, though by a more circuitous route. Canola oil is extracted from varieties of Brassica napus (rapeseed) bred in Canada for low erucic acid content. The name canola is an acronym-like formation from Canadian oil, low acid, but the plant's botanical name napus connects it directly to the same Latin turnip word.
Parsnip, another common English root vegetable name, is sometimes assumed to be related to turnip, but the etymological connection is indirect. Parsnip derives from Old French pasnaie (from Latin pastinaca, parsnip), with the -nip ending possibly influenced by the existing English word neep/turnip. The resemblance between the two words may be partly coincidental and partly the result of folk-etymological assimilation.
The turnip played a crucial role in the Agricultural Revolution of 18th-century Britain. Charles 'Turnip' Townshend, the 2nd Viscount Townshend, was among the most prominent advocates of turnip cultivation as part of a four-course crop rotation system (wheat, turnips, barley, clover). Growing turnips as a winter fodder crop allowed farmers to keep livestock alive through the winter instead of slaughtering most of the herd in autumn, dramatically increasing meat and dairy production. This agricultural transformation was a necessary
In figurative usage, turnip has served as a mild insult (to call someone a turnip implies stupidity), as a term for a large old-fashioned pocket watch (from its shape), and as a symbol of peasant food or rustic simplicity. The phrase to get blood from a turnip means to attempt to extract something from a source that has nothing to give.