mosto

Forms

mosto m (plural mosti)^[1] An old variant is musto.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mustum (“new wine, must”), the neuter of the adjective mustus (“fresh, young”), used as a noun from the phrase “new wine”.^[3][4][5][1] The same word is French moût, Occitan most, Catalan most, Spanish mosto, Portuguese mosto, Sardinian mustu and Romanian must, and it passed into Germanic as German Most and English must.^[4][6][7] The DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance neuter meaning “grape juice not yet or not fully made into wine”, found in every branch except Dalmatian.^[8]

The origin of the Latin adjective is unknown, and nothing outside Latin clearly matches it.^[3][4][9] It has traditionally been linked with Latin muscus (“moss”) and Proto-Indo-European *mews- (“damp”); de Vaan mentions a derivation from a root meaning “to be cheerful” but finds the link in meaning gratuitous.^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Nuovi testi fiorentini of 1260, with the sense “the juice pressed from grapes, which becomes wine by fermenting”.^[3] Nocentini dates the noun earlier, to 1233–1243.^[4] At Lucca at the end of the 13th century Donato's Memoriale uses it as an adjective, vino mosto, “new wine”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The adjectival use, vino mosto, survives in old statutes and in Paolo da Certaldo, and the GDLI lists it as a separate word.^[2] The noun kept its technical meaning in the farming manuals, from Crescenzi's translation on.^[11][2] In modern usage it extends to any sugary juice that can ferment, such as apple must, and technical usage distinguishes mosto muto, mosto concentrato and mosto cotto.^[12][13] Zingarelli gives a rare sense “new wine”.^[14]

Two words named after must have lost touch with it: mostarda, recorded in 1288 and possibly from Old French or Occitan, and mostacciolo, a sweet cake from Latin mustaceum, widespread in the dialects.^[3][4]

Timeline

• 1260 – Mosto in the Nuovi testi fiorentini.^[3][12]
• Late 1200s – Vino mosto at Lucca.^[3]
• 1288 – Mostarda is recorded in Florence.^[3][4]
• 1518–1525 – Firenzuola uses mostoso.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. must: the juice pressed from grapes, not yet fermented into wine: Il mosto bolle nei tini.^[12][15][1]
2. By extension, the sugary juice pressed from other fruit, such as apples or olives.^[12][5][14]
3. (rare) New wine.^[14][16]

Word family

• mostoso
• ammostare
• ammostatura
• mostaio

Related words

• mostarda
• mostacciolo
• Latin mustum
• German Most

Usage notes

The proverb a San Martino ogni mosto è vino says that by St Martin's Day all the must has become wine.^[13] Mosto cotto is must boiled down before it ferments.^[14][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli