gust

Forms

gust m (plural gusts or gustos)^[1] Llull mostly wrote the Latin form gustus;^[2] Coromines thinks it may have been the only form he used.^[2] The DCVB records the pronunciation /gúst/ everywhere.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin gustus (“tasting; taste of a thing”), taken from the written language.^[2][3][4][5]

The Latin word kept its vowel as in the written language in Catalan, Italian gusto and Spanish gusto, but developed by sound change in Portuguese gosto, Old Occitan gost and French goût.^[2] Coromines explains the learned form by the abstract meaning of the word.^[2] Wiktionary calls it possibly semi-learned or an early borrowing, first recorded in the 14th century.^[1] Coromines rejects Meyer-Lübke's view that the Latin vowel was long.^[2]

The Latin noun goes back to *gustus and *ǵéwstus (“taste”).^[1] De Vaan connects it with gustō (“to taste”) and a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to taste".^[6] The same root is in γεύω (geúō, “to give a taste of”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Llull's Llibre de meravelles, where a king has his son taught to govern his eyes to see, his ears to hear, his nose to smell and son gust a gustar, his taste to taste; one manuscript has gustus.^[2] The word named the sense of taste.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Soon after Llull, gust replaced gustus: Eiximenis writes of a man whose taste is strongly inclined to rich food, and Ausiàs March and Joanot Martorell use it too.^[2] Faraudo's oldest quotation for the sense of taste is from Eiximenis (1381).^[7]

The sense "pleasure", in phrases such as tant gust en veure-la and que vagi de gust, is a development of the Iberian Romance languages that Coromines finds in 19th-century writers.^[2] He also quotes bon gust and mal gust for taste in judgement from the Renaixença.^[2] The dictionaries of the 19th century give the senses taste, flavour, pleasure, will and fancy.^[8] Fabra adds the discernment of beauty and the style of a period.^[9]

The verb gustar is recorded in Llull;^[4] disgustar is recorded in 1653.^[4]

Timeline

• 13th century, end – Llull's Llibre de meravelles has son gust a gustar.^[2]
• 1381 – Eiximenis lists sins committed per aquest seny de gust.^[7]
• 1398 – Bernat Metge's Lo somni, the first work in which CICA finds the word.^[10]
• 1653 – the derivative disgustar is recorded.^[4]
• 1932 – Fabra defines it as the sense by which flavours are perceived.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. taste, the sense by which flavours are perceived.^[11][5][1]
2. flavour: Aquesta sopa té gust de fum.^[11][1]
3. pleasure, the enjoyment of a flavour or of anything: Us ajudaré amb molt de gust.^[11][5]
4. Discernment of what is beautiful or ugly; good or bad taste.^[11][3]
5. The style of an art in a given period or country.^[11][3]
6. A liking or preference: Té un gust especial per la música antiga.^[11][3]

Word family

• gustós
• gustosament
• regust
• disgust
• disgustar

Related words

• degustar
• gustar
• gustatiu
• Latin gustus
• Spanish gusto
• Occitan gost

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 4, 761
3. ^ a b c d e Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. gust
4. ^ a b c d Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 479
5. ^ a b c Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. gust
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. gust
8. ^ Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. gust
9. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. gust
10. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. gust
11. ^ a b c d e f Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. gust