gourmet French · revision 16086

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1330, Guillaume de Digulleville}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɡuʁ.mɛ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''gourmet''' ''m'' (plural gourmets)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Groumete'' (feminine, about 1330), ''groumet'' (1392), ''gourmet'' (1402, by metathesis).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It comes from Old French [[m|fro|grommes|t=valet]] (1352),^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) which the TLFi and Bloch and Wartburg take from English “grom” “boy” (1225), then “servant” (1297) (see [[groom]]); the form “gourmet” prevailed by attraction of other words in “gourm-”, and the sense was influenced by [[gourmand]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Guiraud's derivation from a root “*gourm-” “throat” (see [[gourme]]), through a Gallo-Roman “*culmus” “pipette for tasting”, does not account for the early forms in “grou-”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Compare [[es|grumete]], [[ca|grumet]] and Old Gascon “gormet” “ship's boy”.^(Wiktionary)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Littré rejected Diez's “grumo”, Scheler's “gourme” and Grandgagnage's Dutch “geur” “smell”.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Guillaume de Digulleville (about 1330) has the feminine ''groumete'', figuratively a wine broker; in 1392 a ''groumet'' was a valet who conveyed wines (''un groumet nommé Fagot qui conduisoit iceux vins'').^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By extension Arnoul Gréban (1458) used it for someone who tastes wine and knows how to judge it, a good drinker, and Robert Estienne (1549) for a wine broker, a sense kept in some regions.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Probably through assimilation to ''gourmand'', it took its modern sense shortly before 1757 (Jaucourt in the ''Encyclopédie''): a person who appreciates fine food.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Balzac (before 1850) has ''les gourmets de la littérature''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) English ''gourmet'' was borrowed in 1820.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1330 – ''Groumete'' in Digulleville.^(TLFi)

+ * 1352 – ''Grommes'' “valet”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1392 – ''Groumet'' “valet in charge of wines”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1402 – ''Gourmet''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1458 – A wine taster, in Gréban.^(TLFi)

+ * Before 1757 – A connoisseur of food, in Jaucourt.^(TLFi)

+ * 1820 – English ''gourmet''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|gourmet]], connoisseur of food and wine: ''un fin gourmet''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A connoisseur: ''les gourmets de la littérature''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(dated)'' A wine taster, ''(regional)'' a wine broker.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[gourmand]]

+ * [[groom]]

+ * [[en|gourmet]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}