gum
Gum, the flesh around the teeth, is a native word; gum, a sticky substance, came through French and Latin from Greek.[1][2][3]
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ɡʌm/[4]
gum1 flesh around the teeth
Etymology
The gum of the mouth is inherited from Middle English gome, inherited from Old English gōma (“palate, inside of the mouth”),[1][3][2] cognate with Old High German guomo (modern German Gaumen (“palate”)) and Old Norse gómr (“roof of the mouth”),[1][2][3] and related to Lithuanian gomurys (“palate”).[3] Barnhart traces it to a root meaning to yawn, also behind chaos, so that the first sense was the open jaw;[1] Etymonline gives this root as a possibility.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
The inside of the mouth or throat, the palate: about 825 in the OED.[5] Middle English gome is from about 1150.[1]
Semantic evolution
The specific sense, the flesh around the teeth, is first recorded before 1325 in Barnhart,[1] 1398 in the OED.[5] In slang, gum was impertinent talk or chatter from 1751.[5]
Timeline
- c. 825 – the palate.[5]
- c. 1150 – gome.[1]
- before 1325 – the flesh around the teeth.[1]
- 1751 – chatter (slang).[5]
Modern meaning
Noun
- The firm flesh that covers the jaws and surrounds the bases of the teeth, often in the plural.
Verb
- To chew food with toothless gums.
Word family
- gumboil
- gumline
gum2 sticky substance
Etymology
The sticky substance is inherited from Middle English gumme, borrowed from Old French gomme,[1][3][2][6] from Late Latin gumma, from Latin gummi, also cummi,[1][3][2] from Ancient Greek κόμμι (kómmi, “gum”),[1][3][2] probably of Egyptian origin.[1][2][6][7] The Latin word is also the source of German Gummi.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
Before 1325, in Cursor Mundi;[1] a sticky secretion from trees and shrubs about 1385 in the OED, about 1300 in Etymonline.[5][3]
Semantic evolution
The verb, to treat with gum, is from about 1325,[1] and gum arabic and gummy from before 1398.[1] Dried gum was used to stiffen linen from 1456,[5] and the gum tree was named for its resin in the 1670s.[3] A sweet made of hardened gelatine is from 1827,[3][7] and chewing gum, in American English, from 1842.[1][3][5] The gumdrop is American, from 1860.[1] To gum up, to spoil, as if machinery were clogged, is recorded by 1901,[3] and the gumshoe, a detective, wore rubber-soled shoes, from the early 20th century.[7]
Timeline
- before 1325 – gum.[1]
- before 1398 – gum arabic.[1]
- 1670s – gum tree.[3]
- 1827 – a gum sweet.[3]
- 1842 – chewing gum (US).[1][3][5]
- 1901 – to gum up.[3]
Modern meaning
Noun
- A sticky substance that oozes from certain plants and trees, hardening in air and dissolving in water.
- An adhesive made from such substances; glue.
- Chewing gum.
Verb
- To cover, seal or fix with gum.
- To become sticky or clogged.
- gum up: to spoil or clog something.
Word family
- gummy
- gumdrop
- gumshoe
- gum arabic
- chewing gum
Related words
- gumma
- gummite
- gummose
- gummosis
- gummous
- chaos
Usage notes
Gum in mild oaths such as by gum is a 19th-century alteration of God.[2]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press