- (obsolete): iurdan, iurdane, iurdone, yordan, iourden, iorden, jurdon, jordon, jourdon, jordain, jurden, jourdan, jorden
Etymology
From Middle English jordan, from Latin jurdanus, unattested outside of England and of uncertain etymology. Usually derived from a clipped form of Jordan bottle, supposedly a bottle of curative water brought back from the River Jordan by Crusaders and pilgrims to the Holy Land,[1] but this seems unsupported in its actual attestations. Its use for chamber pots may derive from the alchemical device having been used to hold urine.[2]
Noun
jordan (plural jordans)
- (obsolete) A vessel resembling a retort bulb or Florence flask with a truncated neck and flared mouth, used by medieval doctors and alchemists.
- (obsolete) A chamber pot.
c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:2.Car. Why, you will allow vs ne're a Iourden, and then we leake in your Chimney: and your Chamber-lye breeds Fleas like a Loach.
Translations
Alchemical device and chamber pot
— see also chamber pot
References
Oxford English Dictionary, 1st ed. "jordan, n.¹" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1901.