Meaning

noun a river in Palestine that empties into the Dead Sea; John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan

noun an Arab kingdom in southwestern Asia on the Red Sea

originFrom 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, but this seems unsupported in its actual attestations. Its use for chamber pots may derive from the alchemical device…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0