Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗To sample the flavor of something orally. · To have a taste; to excite a particular sensation by which flavor is distinguished. · To identify (a flavor) by sampling something orally. · To experience.
One of the sensations produced by the tongue in response to certain chemicals; the quality of giving this sensation. · The sense that consists in the perception and interpretation of this sensation. · A small sample of food, drink, or recreational drugs. · A person's implicit set of preferences, especially esthetic, though also culinary, sartorial, etc.
The verb is from Middle English tasten, borrowed from Old French taster (“to taste, touch or hit”), from unattested Vulgar Latin *tastāre (“to touch or feel”), from *taxitāre, an innovated iterative form of Classical Latin taxāre (“to touch sharply”), from tangere (“to touch, to grasp”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g-, which is assumed to have had the same meaning as tangere. The noun came from the verb, and the two conflated after English lost its infinitive suffix -en, though tasten was most likely already used nominatively (as a gerund), similar to Modern English tasting. Almost fully displaced native smack, from Middle English smac, smak, smacke, from Old English smæc, smæċċ (“taste, smatch”). Displaced English smatch, from Middle English smacchen, smecchen, from Old English smæċċan (“to taste; to smack”); displaced also Middle English buriȝen, from Old English bierġan (“to taste”).
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Root classification mention*teh₂g-ine-pro
- Inherited-form mentiontastenenm
- Derivation mentiontasterfro
- Derivation mention*teh₂g-ine-pro
- Non-cognate comparisonsmac,smak,smackeenm
- Non-cognate comparisonsmæc,smæċċang
- Non-cognate comparisonsmatchen
- Non-cognate comparisonsmacchen,smecchenenm
- Non-cognate comparisonsmæċċanang
- Non-cognate comparisonburiȝenenm
- Non-cognate comparisonbierġanang
This page abbreviates 7 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "root",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*teh₂g-",
"id": "touch"
},
"expansion": ""
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "tasten"
},
"expansion": "Middle English tasten"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "fro",
"3": "taster",
"4": "",
"5": "to taste, touch or hit"
},
"expansion": "Old French taster (“to taste, touch or hit”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "la-vul",
"3": "*tastāre",
"4": "",
"5": "to touch or feel"
},
"expansion": "Vulgar Latin *tastāre (“to touch or feel”)"
},
{
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{
"name": "der",
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"2": "la-cla",
"3": "taxo",
"4": "taxāre",
"5": "to touch sharply"
},
"expansion": "Classical Latin taxāre (“to touch sharply”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*teh₂g-",
"id": "touch"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g-"
},
{
"name": "lg",
"args": {
"1": "gerund"
},
"expansion": "gerund"
},
{
"name": "glossary",
"args": {
"1": "displaced"
},
"expansion": "displaced"
},
{
"name": "displaced",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "native smack",
"nocap": "1",
"sl": "1"
},
"expansion": "displaced native smack"
},
{
"name": "ncog",
"args": {
"1": "enm",
"2": "smac,smak,smacke"
},
"expansion": "Middle English smac, smak, smacke"
},
{
"name": "ncog",
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "smæc,smæċċ",
"3": "",
"4": "taste, smatch"
},
"expansion": "Old English smæc, smæċċ (“taste, smatch”)"
},
{
"name": "glossary",
"args": {
"1": "Displaced"
},
"expansion": "Displaced"
},
{
"name": "ncog",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "smatch",
"3": "",
"t": "",
"lit": "",
"pos": "",
"tr": "",
"ts": "",
"id": "",
"sc": "",
"g": "",
"g2": "",
"g3": ""
},
"expansion": "English smatch"
},
{
"name": "displaced",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "smatch"
},
"expansion": "Displaced English smatch"
},
{
"name": "ncog",
"args": {
"1": "enm",
"2": "smacchen,smecchen"
},
"expansion": "Middle English smacchen, smecchen"
},
{
"name": "ncog",
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "smæċċan",
"3": "",
"4": "to taste; to smack"
},
"expansion": "Old English smæċċan (“to taste; to smack”)"
},
{
"name": "ncog",
"args": {
"1": "enm",
"2": "buriȝen"
},
"expansion": "Middle English buriȝen"
},
{
"name": "ncog",
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "bierġan",
"3": "",
"4": "to taste"
},
"expansion": "Old English bierġan (“to taste”)"
}
],
"links": [
[
"tasten",
"tasten#Middle_English"
],
[
"taster",
"taster#Old_French"
],
[
"unattested",
"unattested"
],
[
"*tastāre",
"Reconstruction:Latin/tastare"
],
[
"taxāre",
"taxo#Latin"
],
[
"tangere",
"tango#Latin"
],
[
"*teh₂g-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/teh₂g-#Proto-Indo-European:_touch"
],
[
"conflate",
"conflate"
],
[
"infinitive",
"infinitive"
],
[
"-en",
"-en#English:_verb_ending"
],
[
"tasten",
"tasten#Middle_English"
],
[
"nominatively",
"nominatively"
],
[
"tasting",
"tasting#English"
],
[
"smack",
"smack#English"
],
[
"smac",
"smac#Middle_English"
],
[
"smak",
"smak#Middle_English"
],
[
"smacke",
"smacke#Middle_English"
],
[
"smæc",
"smæc#Old_English"
],
[
"smæċċ",
"smæcc#Old_English"
],
[
"smatch",
"smatch#English"
],
[
"smacchen",
"smacchen#Middle_English"
],
[
"smecchen",
"smecchen#Middle_English"
],
[
"smæċċan",
"smæccan#Old_English"
],
[
"buriȝen",
"buriȝen#Middle_English"
],
[
"bierġan",
"biergan#Old_English"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To sample the flavor of something orally.",
"To have a taste; to excite a particular sensation by which flavor is distinguished.",
"To identify (a flavor) by sampling something orally.",
"To experience."
],
"tags": [
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},
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"One of the sensations produced by the tongue in response to certain chemicals; the quality of giving this sensation.",
"The sense that consists in the perception and interpretation of this sensation.",
"A small sample of food, drink, or recreational drugs.",
"A person's implicit set of preferences, especially esthetic, though also culinary, sartorial, etc."
],
"tags": [
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}