mustard

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmʌstəɹd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mustard, borrowed from Old French moustarde,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from moust “must, new wine”,^[3][4][5][6] from Latin mustum (“unfermented wine”),^[2][3][4][5] because the condiment was originally made by mixing the ground seeds with must.^[3][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The ground seeds of the mustard plant, used as a condiment (1289);^[7][3] it is found earlier as a surname (1190).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The name of the condiment passed to the plant itself by the mid-14th century (1340).^[7][4] The colour name, a brownish yellow, dates from 1848.^[7][4] In slang mustard meant the best of anything (1903), probably as that which adds flavour, which gave the phrase to cut the mustard, “to reach the required standard” (1907).^[4][7] Mustard gas, a poison gas first used at Ypres in 1917, was named for its colour, smell and burning effect, though it contains no mustard.^[4]

Timeline

• 1190 – as a surname.^[3]
• 1289 – the condiment.^[7][3]
• 1340 – the plant.^[7]
• 1848 – a brownish-yellow colour.^[7][4]
• 1907 – to cut the mustard.^[4]
• 1917 – mustard gas.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A pungent yellow paste or powder made from the ground seeds of certain plants, used as a condiment.
2. Any of various plants of the genus Brassica and related genera, with yellow flowers, grown for their pungent seeds.
3. A dark yellow to light olive-brown colour.

Adjective

1. Of a dark yellow colour.

Word family

• mustardy
• mustard gas
• mustard oil
• mustard plaster

Related words

• must
• cress

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press