gosier

Forms

gosier m (plural gosiers)^[1] Old French josier (second half of the 13th century); gosillier in Henri de Mondeville (14th century).^[2][3][4] The spelling with ⟨g⟩ is found about 1393 in the Ménagier de Paris.^[2]

Etymology

It is first inherited from Old French josier, from Late Latin geusiae (“cheeks, edges of the throat”), with the suffix -ier taken from gésier “gizzard”.^[2][5][6][7] The Late Latin word, a plural recorded in the 5th-century physician Marcellus Empiricus, is of Gaulish origin, Gaulish geusiae.^[6][2][8]

The change from /ʒ/ to /g/ is explained in two ways: either through an intermediate form Vulgar Latin *gousia or *gausia, whose Norman-Picard outcome the French word would be, or through the influence of words for the throat, gorge and Latin guttur.^[2][5][6] Littré, without this evidence, thought the origin unknown and started from the older form gosillier.^[3]

The Gaulish word lives on in Romanian gușă (“goitre, crop”) and northern Italian dialect forms such as Lombard gos (“crop”), and it passed into Albanian, Modern Greek and Bulgarian.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chace dou cerf, from the second half of the 13th century, has josier for the back of the throat.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Like gorge, the word for the back of the throat came to mean the seat of the voice in the 16th century,^[5] attested from 1585 in Du Fail,^[8] as in à plein gosier “at the top of one's voice” and coup de gosier (1835).^[5][10] In 1757 the Encyclopédie used it for the part of an organ pipe the air passes through.^[8][5]

Several familiar phrases deal with drinking and eating: avoir le gosier pavé (1660, Oudin), of one who eats very hot or spicy food, and avoir le gosier sec (1704, Trévoux), to be thirsty or fond of drink.^[8][3] Rabelais named Gargantua's father Grandgousier.^[3]

Timeline

• 1250-1300 – Josier appears in the Chace dou cerf.^[2][8]
• 14th century – Henri de Mondeville writes gosillier for the gullet.^[3][4]
• c. 1393 – The form gosier appears in the Ménagier de Paris.^[2]
• 1530 – Palsgrave records gosier.^[8][4]
• 1585 – Du Fail uses it for the seat of the voice.^[8]
• 1660 – Oudin records avoir le gosier pavé.^[8]
• 1704 – Trévoux records avoir le gosier sec.^[8]
• 1757 – The Encyclopédie uses it for a part of the organ.^[8][5]
• 1835 – First record of coup de gosier.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The inner part of the throat, from the back of the mouth to the gullet;^[10][2] (anatomy) isthme du gosier, the isthmus of the fauces.^[10][2]
2. (familiar) Avoir le gosier sec: to be thirsty.^[10]
3. The throat as the seat of the voice: chanter à plein gosier “to sing at the top of one's voice”, coup de gosier.^[10][3]

Word family

• dégoiser
• égosiller

Related words

• gésier
• gorge
• Late Latin geusiae

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 127a
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert