Where did the term jeep come from?

Answer 1

There are many stories about where the name "Jeep" came from. The following two reasons for the name "jeep", although they make interesting and memorable stories, aren't quite accurate. # Probably the most popular notion has it that the vehicle bore the designation "GP" (for "General Purpose"), which was phonetically slurred into the word jeep. R. Lee Ermey, on his television series Mail Call, disputes this, saying that the vehicle was designed for specific duties, was never referred to as "General Purpose," and that the name may have been derived from Ford's nomenclature referring to the vehicle as GP (G for government-use, and P to designate its 80-inch-wheelbase). "General purpose" does appear in connection with the vehicle in the WW2 TM 9-803 manual, which describes the vehicle as "... a general purpose, personnel, or cargo carrier especially adaptable for reconnaissance or command, and designated as 1/4-ton 4x4 Truck", and the vehicle is also designated a "GP" in TM 9-2800, Standard Military Motor Vehicles, 1 September, 1943, but whether the average jeep-driving GI would have been familiar with either of these manuals is open to debate.

# Many, including Ermey, claim that the more likely origin is a reference to a character from the Thimble Theater (Popeye) comic strip known as Eugene the Jeep. Eugene the Jeep was a dog-like character who could walk through walls and ceilings, climb trees, fly, and just about go anywhere it wanted; it is thought that soldiers at the time were so impressed with the new vehicle's versatility that they informally named it after the character. The manuals quoted were published in 1943. The character of "Eugene the Jeep" was created in 1936. The first common use of the term "jeep" predates both of these by roughly 20 years. It was during World War I that soldiers used "jeep" as a slang word for new recruits as well as new, unproven vehicles. This is according to a history of the vehicle for an issue of the U.S. Army magazine, Quartermaster Review, which was written by Maj. E. P. Hogan. He went on to say that the slang word had these definitions as late as the start of World War II. The term would eventually be used as slang to refer to an airplane, a tractor used for hauling heavy equipment, and an autogyro. When the first models of the jeep came to Camp Holabird for tests, the vehicle didn't have a name yet. Therefore the soldiers on the test project called it a jeep. Civilian engineers and test drivers who were at the camp during this time were not aware of the military slang term. They most likely were familiar with the character of Eugene the Jeep and therefore began to credit Eugene with the name. The vehicle had many other nicknames at this time such as Peep, Pygmy, and Blitz-Buggy although because of the Eugene association, Jeep stuck in people's minds better than any other term. Words of the Fighting Forces by Clinton A. Sanders, a dictionary of military slang, published in 1942, in the library at The Pentagon gives the following definition: Jeep: A four-wheel drive car of one-half to one-and-one-half ton capacity for reconnaissance or other army duty. A term applied to the bantam-cars, and occasionally to other motor vehicles (U.S.A.) in the Air Corps, the Link Trainer; in the armored forces, the 1/2 ton command car. Also referred to as 'any small plane, helicopter, or gadget. The term went into widespread public use because of a syndicated news column written by Kathryn Hillyer who was working for the Washington Daily News. Hillyer had been assigned to cover a publicity stunt and Senate photo op where the jeep was presented to the public. The Army brought a jeep to the Capitol in order for it to climb the front steps of the building and show off the vehicle's power. When test driver Irving "Red" Housman was asked by a bystander "What is this thing?" he responded simply with "It's a jeep." Hillyer heard this and used the name in her column which was printed around the country.