English
mustard
Mustard comes from Old French moustarde ‘mustard (condiment)’, from moust ‘must’, and ultimately from Latin mustus ‘newborn, new, fresh, perhaps lit. 'wet'’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmustus‘newborn, new, fresh, perhaps lit. 'wet'’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmustum‘must’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400moust‘must’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400moustarde‘mustard (condiment)’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mustard‘a mustard plant’
- Englishearliest quotation 2005same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmustus‘newborn, new, fresh, perhaps lit. 'wet'’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmustum‘must’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400moust‘must’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400moustarde‘mustard (condiment)’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mustard‘a mustard plant’
- Englishearliest quotation 2005same form
Earliest quotation: 2005, Bernard Hare, Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew: “My expectations of public services were nil, so any…”
The story
Sometimes mistakenly thought to come from Latin mustum ardens, but such a Latin phrase is not attested, and it is well understood that that the final -ard is derived from Old French -arde.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *mus- ‘damp’
through Latin muscus ‘moss’
Today it means
noun A plant of certain species of the genus Brassica, or of related genera (especially Sinapis alba, in the family Brassicaceae, with yellow flowers, and linear seed pods).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin mustus / mustard