mosto

Forms

mosto m (plural mostos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mustum (“unfermented grape juice, new wine”), the neuter of the adjective mustus (“fresh, young”) used as a noun.^[2][3][1][4]

The same Latin word is Galician mosto, Spanish mosto, Catalan most, French moût, Italian mosto and Romanian must.^[5][1]

Wiktionary traces the Latin adjective to Proto-Indo-European *mus- (“damp”).^[1] De Vaan finds no convincing etymology: a derivation from a root meaning “to be cheerful” is possible in form, but he calls the link of meaning gratuitous.^[4] The DHLF calls it a rustic word without a clear origin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary of 1569 has mosto with Latin mustum.^[7] Houaiss dates the word only from Bluteau (1716), and Cunha from Morais (1813).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau defines mosto as the new wine taken from the press that has not yet fermented in the vat.^[8] Morais (1789) calls it the juice of the grapes before fermentation and adds mosto virgem, the juice that runs from the grapes before they are trodden.^[9] The modern dictionaries extend it to the sugary juice of any fruit, seed or tuber prepared for fermentation, and Brazilian Portuguese uses it for a swarm of bees.^[2][10][11]

The condiment mostarda is named after the must with which it was first prepared, in Portuguese as in Spanish and the other Romance languages.^[12][5]

Timeline

• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists mosto.^[7]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it with Latin mustum and protropum.^[13]
• 1716 – Bluteau defines it as new wine not yet fermented.^[8][2]
• 1789 – Morais records mosto virgem.^[9]
• 1813 – Morais's second edition, Cunha's date for the word.^[3][14]

Meanings

Noun

1. must: the juice of fresh grapes before or during fermentation.^[2][11][1]
2. New wine, just drawn from the winepress.^[2][15]
3. The sugary juice of any fruit, seed or tuber, as prepared for alcoholic fermentation.^[2][10]
4. (Brazil) A swarm of bees.^[2][10][11]

Related words

• mostarda
• Galician mosto

Usage notes

The stressed vowel is closed /o/, in the plural mostos as well.^[16][2]

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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. mosto
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. mosto
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5783
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. moût
7. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. mosto
8. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. mosto
9. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 99
10. ^ a b c Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. mosto
11. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. mosto
12. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 164
13. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. mosto
14. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 322
15. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. mosto
16. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. mosto