Etymologically
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gusto

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɡʊs.toː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɡus.to][1]

Forms

gustō (present infinitive gustāre, perfect active gustāvī, supine gustātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is a verb in -tō from an old *geus-o, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to taste”).[2][1] Compare Ancient Greek γεύομαι (geúomai, “to taste”) and English choose,[2] and Old High German kostōn.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has “whenever someone has tasted a seasoned dish”.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to perceive by taste, to test the flavour of something, as Cato's wine to be tasted the next morning, and to take a bite or sip, as Cicero's “not even tasting water”.[2][6] Figuratively it meant to have a taste of, to get some knowledge or experience, as Plautus' eavesdropper wanting to taste a man's talk, and Cicero's phrase about tasting citizens' blood.[2][6]

Romance kept it, as Spanish gustar and French goûter.[1] Etymonline says the Vulgar Latin source of English taste, *tastare, was probably altered under the influence of gustare.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of tasting food and of eavesdropping.[2][5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of tasting wine.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of not tasting even water.[6][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To perceive by taste.[2][1]
  2. To taste, test the flavour of.[2][1]
  3. To take a little of, partake of.[2][1]
  4. (figurative) To get a taste of, experience.[2]

Word family

  • dēgustō
  • gustābilis
  • gustātīcium
  • gustātiō
  • gustator
  • gustātōrium
  • gustātus
  • ingustātus
  • ingusto
  • praegustō
  • regustō

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes sapor, the flavour a thing has, from gustus or gustatus, the sensation or sense of taste.[8]

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 g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper