jug

The word 'jug' has a surprisingly personal origin. It began in 16th-century England as a familiar nickname, 'Jug', for a woman named Joan or Judith. This name was then applied in a derogatory way to refer to a maidservant or a rustic young woman. By the mid-16th century, the term transferred metonymically to the earthenware pitcher such a woman might carry or use, likely influenced by the resemblance of a rounded pitcher to a buxom figure. Thus, the word journeyed from a personal name to a descriptor for a person, and finally settled on the common household container we know today, shedding its personal connotations along the way.

This word is a simplex. It is a borrowing from Middle English, where it was used as a pet form of the names 'Joan' or 'Judith', later applied to a lowly servant or a rustic woman, and eventually to a drinking vessel.