Etimología y Historia de Union Jack

late 14c., jakke "a mechanical device," from the masc. name Jack (q.v.). The proper name was used in Middle English for "any common fellow" (see jack (n.1)) and thereafter extended, alone or in compound, to various mechanical contrivances or appliances which do the work of common servants and assistants or are liable to rough use (1570s, in reference to a machine for turning the spit in roasting meat); for this use compare billy, jimmy, Jenny. Jack also was used generically in reference to male animals (1620s, see jackass, jackdaw, etc.).

Specifically as a contrivance for raising great weights by force exerted from below, it is attested by 1703. As the name of a device for pulling off boots, from 1670s. The slang meaning "money" is recorded by 1890 (in earlier slang it meant "a small coin"). In telephony and telegraphy, "a terminal by means of which instruments can be plugged into a circuit," it is attested by 1891, in reference to the spring-jack switch in it.

For the playing card, see jack (n.3). The jack in Union Jack is a nautical term for "small flag at the bow of a ship" (1630s) and perhaps is from the word's secondary sense of "smaller than normal size."

principios del siglo XV, unioun, "acción de unir una cosa a otra o dos o más cosas en una," también "acuerdo, pacto," también "estado de matrimonio," del anglofrancés unioun, del francés antiguo union (siglo XII), del latín tardío unionem (nominativo unio) "unidad, unidad, una unión," también en latín clásico "una sola perla o cebolla," de unus "uno" (de la raíz PIE *oi-no- "uno, único").

El sentido de "acción de unir en un solo cuerpo político" está atestiguado desde la década de 1540. El significado "grupo o confederación de personas o estados" es de la década de 1650. Como abreviatura de trade union, se registra en 1833. El sentido político de "Estados Unidos de América, la unión de estados" está atestiguado desde 1775; especialmente durante la Guerra Civil en referencia al resto de los Estados Unidos tras la secesión del Sur.