gin, gin rummy, meld

My mom used to play gin rummy with me when I was a kid. I never questioned the name of the card game. Is it from the liquors gin and rum?

Gin rummy, or simply gin, is a two-player card game variant of rummy. It has been popular as both a social and a gambling game, especially during the mid-twentieth century which is about when I was playing it.

CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Even the simplified explanation on Wikipedia is pretty complicated. The objective in gin rummy is to be the first to reach an agreed-upon score, usually 100 points.

Rummy is a group of matching-card games based on matching cards of the same rank or sequence and the same suit. The basic goal in any form of rummy is to build melds which can be either sets (three or four of a kind of the same rank) or runs (three or more sequential cards of the same suit) and either be first to go out or to amass more points than the opposition.

Several theories about the origin of the name "rummy" exist. One is that it refers to the British slang word rum, meaning odd, strange, or queer. That seem odd as an origin. Others say the origin lies in the game Rum Poker which makes more sense than it coming from the liquor of the same name.

"Gin" as a liquor is an abbreviation of geneva, an alteration of Dutch genever (“juniper”) from Old French genevre (modern French genièvre), and back to Vulgar Latin ieniperus, from Latin iūniperus (“juniper”). Gin gets its distinctive taste from juniper berries.

Gin rummy was first attested in 1941 and is more likely at least partly from Middle English gin, ginne (“cleverness, scheme, talent, device, machine”), from Old French gin, an aphetism of Old French engin (“engine”); and partly from Middle English grin, grine (“snare, trick, stratagem, deceit, temptation, noose, halter, instrument”), from Old English grin, gryn, giren, geren (“snare, gin, noose”). In all of those earlier words, the idea of game strategies and tricks are present.

In card games, a meld is a set of matching cards, typically three or more, that earn a player points and/or allow them to deplete their hand. The word meld is a blend of melt +‎ weld; alternatively, from English melled (“mingled; blended”). It was probably borrowed from Dutch or German melden (“to report, announce”).