dégoût

Forms

dégoût m (plural dégoûts)^[1] Middle French desgoust, degoust.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from French dégoûter.^{[3][4][5][6][1]} The verb is formed with dé- on goût, which is from Latin gustus.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The GLLF and the Grand Robert date it to about 1560, in Ambroise Paré, who writes of a swelling of the stomach avec degoust “with loss of appetite”;^[6][4][2] the DHLF gives 1580, and the TLFi cites Montaigne's Essais in the 1595 edition.^[7][3] The first sense was lack of taste or appetite.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

Until the 17th century it competed with dégoûtement.^[8] Agrippa d'Aubigné (before 1630) used it for displeasure or vexation.^[3][7] From 1636 (Monet) it is a moral aversion to a person or thing.^[3][7][6] It also came to mean a weariness that turns one away from something.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1560 – Ambroise Paré uses degoust for loss of appetite.^[6][4]
• 1580 – The DHLF's date for the sense “lack of taste or appetite”.^[7]
• 1595 – Montaigne's Essais (posthumous edition) use desgoust.^[3]
• before 1630 – D'Aubigné uses it for displeasure.^[3]
• 1636 – Monet records the sense “aversion”.^[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lack of appetite causing a feeling of repugnance.^[5][9]
2. Aversion, disgust for something or someone.^[5][9][1]
3. Loss of interest in something out of weariness.^[9]

Related words

• dégoûter
• goût
• dégoûtant
• ragoût

Usage notes

An older noun dégout “water that drips”, from dégoutter, is recorded from about 1160 and still in Saint-Amant and Gautier.^[6] Littré notes that dégoût has a long vowel, which distinguished it from that word.^[2] The 1990 spelling reform allows dégout.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)