Jacobin
/ˈdʒæk.ə.bɪn/noun
A member of the radical political club active during the French Revolution, or historically, a Dominican friar.
Did you know?The French revolutionary club was called “Jacobin” because it met in a former Dominican convent in Paris, and Dominicans were nicknamed Jacobins after their house on the Rue Saint-Jacques.
Etymological Timeline
Biblical Hebrew
Heb
Yaʿaqōb
“Jacob, the patriarch whose name became a major source of European given names”
Late Latin
Latin
Iacobus
“James; a Latin form of the biblical name”
Old French
OFr
Jacques
“James; also used as a name for a Dominican friar”
Medieval Latin
ML
Jacobin(us)
“Of or belonging to Saint James; later, a Dominican friar”
18th Century
French
Jacobin
“A Dominican friar; then a member of the radical revolutionary club that met in a former Dominican convent”
Modern English
English
Jacobin
“A radical revolutionary, especially one associated with the French Revolution”