Etymograph

English

glutton

Glutton comes from Middle English glotoun, and goes back to Latin glutto.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgluttoas gluttō
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400gloton
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500glotoun
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1597glutton

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgluttoas gluttō
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400gloton
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500glotoun
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1597glutton

Earliest quotation: 1597, William Shakespeare: “So, so, thou common dog, didst thou disgorge Thy…”

The story

The use for the wolverine is a semantic loan from German Vielfraß, itself a folk etymology for Old Norse *fjallfress (literally “mountain cat”).folk etymology The source marks this as unproven or a folk etymology. Quoted, not asserted. The popular belief that the wolverine is particularly voracious only developed because of this name.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷel- ‘throat’

gully, gullet, 4 more

Today it means

adj Gluttonous; greedy; gormandizing.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin glutto / glutton

Shirt and support for this word