mostaza

Forms

mostaza f (plural mostazas)^[1]

Etymology

It is a derivative from Spanish mosto (“must, unfermented grape juice”), according to Corominas: fine sauces were made of crushed mustard seed mixed with must, to temper its sharpness, and the name passed from the sauce to the seed and the plant.^[2][3][4] Corominas thinks the seed was at first called xenabe and that only the sauce had this name.^[2] Spellings with ⟨ç⟩ in the Escorial glossary and in Nebrija may point to a foreign source, perhaps Catalan mostassa.^[2]

The DLE derives it from Latin mustāceus (“of must”), and Wiktionary calls it inherited from that Latin word with a change of gender.^[5][1] In classical Latin the word named a cake made with must and baked on laurel leaves, formed from mustum (“must”) and the suffix -āceus.^[6] The noun is the adjective mustus (“new, fresh”) used as a noun.^[7]

Words of the same origin are Catalan mostalla, Old Occitan mostazia, French moutarde, Italian mostarda, Portuguese mostarda, English mustard and German Mostrich.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is Ferrer Sayol's Libro de Palladio (1380–1385), a farming treatise with a chapter on planting the herb: de la mostaza.^[9] A recipe of about the same date already puts it in a sauce: en la dicha conserua o salsa deue hombre meter mostaza “one must put mustard in the said preserve or sauce”.^[9] DEMel cites mostacia from Aragonese inventories of 1362.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija glossed it as both seed and herb, Latin sinapis.^[11] Covarrubias in 1611 explained the name by the must used in the sauce and recorded amostazarse “to get angry”, from the way both anger and mustard go up the nose.^[12] Autoridades described the plant, the seed and the sauce, and recorded fine lead shot (mostacilla), boys' hacer la mostaza “to make someone's nose bleed in a fist fight”, and subirse la mostaza a las narices “to lose one's temper”.^[13][14]

The Academy first proposed Latin mustum as the etymon in 1884, with a question mark, and stated it in 1899.^[15][16] Moliner adds tiny glass beads for embroidery, and VOX a yellowish-green colour, used also as an invariable adjective (pantalones mostaza).^[17][18] In Guatemala it can mean drunkenness.^[19]

Timeline

• 1362 – mostacia in Aragonese inventories, according to DEMel.^[10]
• 1380–1385 – mostaza in the Libro de Palladio.^[9]
• c. 1400 – the glossaries of the Palace and the Escorial;^[11] Corominas's first record.^[2][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin sinapis.^[11]
• 1513 – first records in the Americas, half a fanega of mustard in Puerto Rico.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives the name from mosto and records amostazarse.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records subirse la mostaza a las narices.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy proposes Latin mustum as the etymon.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. mustard, an annual plant of the crucifer family, with yellow flowers and pods of small seeds with a sharp taste.^[5][1]
2. The seed of this plant.^[5]
3. Mustard, the sauce or condiment made from the seeds: ¿Le pones mostaza al bocadillo?^[5][1]
4. Fine lead shot (mostacilla).^[5]
5. A yellowish-green colour; also an invariable adjective: una chaqueta mostaza.^[18]

Word family

• mostacera
• mostacero
• mostacilla
• mostazal
• amostazar

Related words

• mosto
• jenabe
• Latin mustum
• Catalan mostassa

Usage notes

Subirse la mostaza a las narices is “to lose one's temper”, the image behind the verb amostazarse.^[13][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 164
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mosto
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
5. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. mostaza
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. mostaza
10. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
11. ^ a b c Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 383
12. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1150
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 616
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 586
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 721
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 676
17. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mostaza
18. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. mostaza
19. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. mostaza
20. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies