gluten

Forms

gluten m (plural glutens)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin glūten (“glue, gum”), taken over unchanged in 1515.^[2][3][1][4] Bloch and Wartburg note that it was borrowed for technical senses.^[5] The same Latin word is the source of glu.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1515, in J. Falion's Les Notables, for a viscous substance.^[2] Littré quotes Paré in the 16th century: Le quatriesme humeur de nourrissement est appellé gluten (“the fourth nourishing humour is called gluten”).^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

In early use it meant a sticky substance that binds things together, a sort of glue; naturalists spoke of the gluten that binds the parts of a solid body.^[3][2][6] In 1787 Guyton de Morveau's chemical nomenclature applied it to the sticky nitrogenous substance of cereal grains, the sense that has prevailed; the GLLF finds it as early as 1757 in the Encyclopédie.^[2][3][7] From the stem of the word in this sense chemists formed glutamique (1872) and glutamate (1898).^[3] The older adjective glutineux, borrowed from Latin glutinosus, meant “sticky” about 1265 and then “of the nature of gluten” (1787).^[3]

Timeline

• 1515 – First recorded, as “viscous substance”.^[2][8]
• 16th century – Paré names one of the nourishing humours gluten.^[6][5]
• 1757 – The Encyclopédie uses it for the gluten of flour.^[7]
• 1787 – Guyton de Morveau's nomenclature uses it for the nitrogenous substance of cereals.^[2][3]
• 1872 – Glutamique is formed on its stem.^[3]
• 1898 – Glutamate is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. gluten, the sticky protein matter of cereal grains that remains when the starch is removed from flour: pain de gluten.^[2][8] Intolérance au gluten: gluten intolerance, coeliac disease.^[2][8]
2. (dated) A substance that binds together the parts of a solid body.^[2][6]

Related words

• glu
• glutineux
• glutamate
• Latin glūten

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 170b
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert