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gourmand

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Etymology and origin of the French word gourmand

Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
1354 royal ordinance More words from the 14th century

Pronunciation

  • /ɡuʁ.mɑ̃/[1]

Forms

gourmand (feminine gourmande, masculine plural gourmands, feminine plural gourmandes)[1] Middle French gourmant and gourment.[2][1] Littré cites Burgundian gorman and Berry gormand.[2][1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[3][4][5][6] Diez connected it with gourmet, as Littré reports, and Regula explained it as that word with a change of suffix under the influence of friand.[2][3] The TLFi, the DHLF and Bloch and Wartburg object that gourmet takes a similar sense only much later, in the 18th century, probably under the influence of the headword itself.[3][4][7] If the two are related, the starting point would be the older sense “valet” of gourmet, with a development like that of goinfre from “parasite” to “glutton”.[3][4] The FEW files both words in the same article.[8]

P. Guiraud proposed instead a base meaning “throat”, shared with gourme, gourmet and gourmette, from a reconstructed Vulgar Latin *culmus, later *cormu, from Latin calamus (“reed pipe, windpipe”); he compares Spanish cuelmo, Portuguese colmo and Auvergnat cormel (“reed pipe”), and explains the ending as the suffix of trade names such as marchand.[4] Bloch and Wartburg also find a link with gourmer hard to support on semantic grounds.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A royal ordinance of November 1354 speaks of ouvriers gourmans, ou frians, workmen who eat greedily or like choice morsels.[3][9]

Semantic evolution

For a long time gourmand meant “eating greedily and to excess”, close to glouton: Oresme pairs gloutons et gourmans.[4][2] Figuratively it meant “eager for, very fond of” (Ronsard, 1550, gourmand de gloire).[3][4]

In gardening a branche gourmande (1688) is a shoot that draws the sap away from the others, The noun un gourmand for such a shoot follows about 1700.[4][3] The word lost its negative sense in the 18th century: Marivaux uses it for one who enjoys good food as a connoisseur (1735), and in the 20th century the adjective became a synonym of gastronomique, as in chronique gourmande.[9][4] Pois gourmand is a variety of pea eaten with its pod.[4]

Timeline

  • 1354 – Gourmans in a royal ordinance.[3]
  • 14th century – Oresme pairs gloutons et gourmans.[2]
  • 1550 – Ronsard writes gourmand de gloire.[3][4]
  • 1688 – Branche gourmande in gardening.[3][4]
  • 1702 – The noun gourmand for such a shoot (Liger).[3]
  • 1735 – Marivaux uses it for a lover of good food.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (dated) Eating greedily and too much, gluttonous.[3][6][1]
  2. Fond of good food, eating for pleasure: elle est très gourmande;[6][9][1] gourmand de, fond of a particular food.[6][9][1]
  3. Where one eats well, or that lets one indulge in good food: un menu gourmand.[6]
  4. (figurative) Showing desire or eagerness: un regard gourmand;[6][3] gourmand de compliments.[6][3]
  5. Demanding a lot, especially of money: se montrer trop gourmand.[6][3]
  6. Gourmand en: using a lot of, of a machine: une chaudière gourmande en fioul.[6]
  7. (arboriculture) Branche gourmande: a shoot that takes the sap from the neighbouring branches.[6][2]

Noun

  1. A person who loves good food, a gourmand or gourmet.[6][1]
  2. (arboriculture) A vigorous shoot that robs the others of sap, a sucker.[6][3]

Word family

  • gourmandise
  • gourmander

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 91b
  9. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
Cite this entry

“Gourmand.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/gourmand. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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