savoureux

Forms

savoureux (feminine savoureuse, masculine plural savoureux, feminine plural savoureuses)^[1] Old French savoros, saverose and savoreus, Middle French savoureus (about 1330).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

For the TLFi it is formed from French saveur + -eux, comparing Late Latin sapōrōsus (“tasty”).^[5] The DHLF, the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert derive it from the Late Latin word itself (6th century), a derivative of Latin sapor (“taste”);^[6][3][7] the GLLF and Wiktionary leave both explanations open,^[2][1] and Bloch and Wartburg give a popular Latin *saporosus.^[8]

Cognate with Old Occitan saboros, Catalan sabrós, Spanish sabroso and Italian saporoso.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jean Bodel's Chanson des Saisnes (about 1200) gives a woman a bouche savoreuse, a mouth sweet to kiss and redder than blood.^[5][4] The sense “pleasant to the taste”, of food, follows in the 13th century (viande saverouse in the Ysopet de Lyon).^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word was figurative from the start, applied to what is delightful in a person, a kiss or the games of love,^[6][4] and about 1220 Gui de Cambrai speaks of a joie saverouse.^[5] The literal sense “having a pleasant taste” is dated by the DHLF to about 1220.^[6] By extension it was said from 1694 of any pleasure one enjoys,^[6] and in modern French it describes a story or style that has spice and charm.^[7][2] The modern spelling savoureux is from the 15th century.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – Jean Bodel uses savoreuse of a woman's mouth.^[5][2]
• c. 1220 – Gui de Cambrai writes of a joie saverouse.^[5]
• 13th century – Viande saverouse “tasty food” in the Ysopet de Lyon.^[5]
• c. 1330 – Digulleville writes savoureus.^[2][3]
• 15th century – The spelling savoureux appears.^[2]
• 1694 – It is used of a pleasure one enjoys.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having a rich, pleasant flavour, tasty: une poire savoureuse.^[5][7][1]
2. (figurative) delightful or full of spice, of a story, a style or a remark: une anecdote savoureuse.^[7][2][5]

Word family

• savoureusement

Related words

• saveur
• savourer
• Latin sapor

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France