Etymologically
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gâter

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɡa.te/[1]
  • IPA: /ɡɑ.te/[1]

Forms

gâter[1] Old French guaster, gaster; spelt gâter from 1636 (Monet).[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French guaster, inherited from Latin vāstō (“to lay waste, depopulate; to ravage”),[3][4][5][6] from vāstus (“empty, desolate”),[4] whose initial was changed to /w/, and hence /g/, under the influence of a Germanic verb Frankish *wōstjan (“to lay waste”), seen in Old High German wuostan and German verwüsten.[3][4][5] Since the Romance forms all have ⟨g⟩, the FEW thinks the crossing is older than the Frankish period.[3] Littré allowed the Germanic word's influence but noted that it would rather have given “gastir”.[7]

Cognate with Italian guastare (“to lay waste; to spoil”), Old Occitan gastar and Spanish gastar (“to spend, wear out”).[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has Charles li magnes ad Espagne guastede “Charlemagne has laid Spain waste”.[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to ravage, devastate” lasted until the 17th century,[5][8] and “to damage badly” (about 1200) until the 19th, surviving regionally and in African and Lebanese French (la télé est gâtée “the TV is broken”).[4][3] The reflexive se gâter “to go bad” (of fruit, meat) is in Estienne (1538), and the transitive sense “to spoil by rotting” is recorded in 1636.[3][4] Old French also had gaster “to waste (time, money)”, as in the Roman de la Rose.[7]

From 1530 (Palsgrave) the verb meant “to spoil (a child) by indulgence”, and, from the late 17th century “to pamper, shower with attentions”.[3][4] Lemaire de Belges (1511) uses it for corrupting the young.[9] Cela ne gâte rien “that does no harm” is in Voltaire.[2] The derivative gâteux (1835–1836), first hospital slang for an incontinent patient, came to mean “senile”.[4][5]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Guastede “laid waste” in the Chanson de Roland.[3]
  • c. 1200 – “To damage”.[3]
  • 1321 – Dégât.[5]
  • 1530 – “To spoil (a child)” in Palsgrave.[3]
  • 1538 – Se gâter “to go bad”.[3]
  • 1815 – Gâterie.[4]
  • 1835 – Gâteux in hospital slang.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To spoil, cause to rot: des fruits gâtés, une dent gâtée.[10][11]
  2. To spoil, mar; to deprive of its pleasant effects: gâter le plaisir, cela ne gâte rien.[10][2]
  3. To spoil (a child) by over-indulgence; to pamper, treat (someone) with gifts and attentions: un enfant gâté.[10][12]
  4. (regional, Africa) To damage, gâté: out of order.[4]
  5. (reflexive) To go bad; of weather or a situation, to take a turn for the worse.[1][4]
  6. (obsolete) To lay waste, ravage.[8][10]

Word family

  • gâterie
  • gâteux
  • dégât
  • gâte-sauce
  • gâtisme
  • gâtine
  • vaste
  • dévaster
  • English waste

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 202a
  7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  12. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)