γεύομαι

Forms

γεύομαι (geúomai), the middle of γεύω (geúō) “to give a taste”; future γεύσομαι, aorist ἐγευσάμην, perfect γέγευμαι.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to taste”).^[3][4][5] The negative compound ἄγευστος (ágeustos, “not tasting”) keeps the /s/ of the root and points to a present built on a stem in /s/.^[3] The active γεύω (geúō), “to give a taste”, is later, from Herodotus on.^[3]

Cognate with Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽 (kiusan) and Old Norse kjósa “to taste, choose”, Old High German kiosan, Sanskrit जुषते (juṣáte), and Latin gustō, which matches kostōn.^[3][6] Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (kausjan) is a causative.^[3][6] Babiniotis adds English choose, from the Germanic verb.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer one “tastes” a gift from the Achaeans, and figuratively warriors “taste” each other with spears and an enemy will “taste” a spear-point.^[1][6][7]

Semantic evolution

From Aeschylus and Herodotus on it is the ordinary verb for tasting or eating food and drink, with the genitive, and Thucydides says that during a famine some had even eaten one another.^[2][1][6] The figurative sense grew alongside: Herodotus speaks of tasting power and freedom, Pindar and the tragedians of tasting grief and toil, Plato of tasting pleasures or a subject of study.^[2][1]

In the Hippocratic writings and the Acts of the Apostles it means simply to take food.^[1][6] The Septuagint and the New Testament use it for eating and for tasting death, sometimes with the accusative, a late construction.^[8][9][6]

The verb lives on in medieval and Modern Greek γεύομαι (gévomai), “to taste” and figuratively “to experience for the first time”, usually something pleasant.^[10][11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of testing one another with spears.^[1][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus and Pindar use it for tasting food and for experiencing troubles.^[2][6]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus speaks of tasting power and freedom, and Thucydides of men who had eaten one another during a famine.^[1][2][6]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for taking food and for tasting death.^[9][1]
• Modern Greek – γεύομαι (gévomai) still means to taste and to experience.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. To taste, eat or drink a little of something (with the genitive; later also the accusative).^[1][2][6]
2. To take food, eat.^[1][6][9]
3. (figurative) To taste, experience, feel: power, freedom, grief, pleasures, death.^[2][1][9]
4. (of fighters) To have a taste of an enemy's weapon; to try one another in battle.^[1][2]

Word family

• γεῦμα (geûma)
• γεῦσις (geûsis)
• γευστήριον (geustḗrion)
• ἄγευστος (ágeustos)

Related words

• γεύω (geúō)
• Latin gustō
• English choose

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ a b c d Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
10. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki