condiment

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English condiment,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French condiment,^[4][5][3] from Latin condīmentum (“spice, seasoning, sauce”),^[6][4][7] from condiō (“to preserve, pickle, season”) and the suffix -mentum.^[5][3] Etymonline names Old French condiment, recorded from the 13th century,^[6] and the Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the second third of that century.^[8] Several dictionaries, among them the Shorter Oxford and Collins, go straight back to Latin,^[9][10][11] and the MED gives both Latin and Old French.^[2] The Latin verb is a variant of condō (“to put together, store, preserve”),^[6][7][4] perhaps influenced by salliō (“to salt”),^[4] and that verb is formed from com- (“together”) and a verb from Proto-Indo-European *dhē- (“to put, place”),^[6][12] the root of do.^[12][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Palladius on Husbondrie, which the OED dates to about 1420 and the MED to about 1440.^[13][2] There the MED and Barnhart read it as a pickling fluid: "This moone is maad olyue in condiment".^[2][4] The OED defines the same record more widely, as anything of strong flavour used to season food.^[13] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-15th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Latin condīmentum was tied to preserving: Ayto glosses the word as literally "stored" or "preserved" food.^[14] In English the pickling fluid soon gave way to seasoning in general, recorded by Barnhart from before 1500.^[4] A figurative use, of what gives something its savour, appears at the same time, in a translation of Thomas à Kempis: "þe condiment of þy wisdom".^[2][13] Johnson (1755) describes a seasoning or sauce that excites the appetite by a sharp taste, quoting Bacon on radishes as "for condiments, and not for nourishment".^[15] Merriam-Webster now covers both natural substances such as pepper, vinegar and mustard and made-up ones such as curry powder, pickles and ketchup.^[5] A verb, to season, existed from about 1420 until 1854,^[13] and Middle English also had the verb condite.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1420 – something strongly flavoured used in preparing food, also a pickling fluid, in Palladius on Husbondrie.^[13][2]
• c. 1420 – verb, to season or flavour (obsolete after 1854).^[13]
• before 1500 – figurative use.^[13][2] Barnhart also dates the sense of seasoning to before 1500.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Something usually sharp, salty or spicy added to or served with food to improve its flavour, such as a spice or sauce: The waiter brought mustard and other condiments.^[5][11][13]
2. Figuratively, something that adds relish or savour.^[13][2]
3. (obsolete) A fluid used for pickling.^[2][4]

Verb

1. (obsolete, 1420–1854) To season or flavour with a condiment.^[13][9]

Word family

• condimental

Related words

• condite
• recondite
• incondite
• do

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.