| 词组 | gourmand, gourmet |
| 释义 | gourmand, gourmet These similar words have dissimilar histories. Gourmand was a synonym for glutton when it was borrowed from French in the 15th century. Gourmet, which once meant "a wine merchant's assistant" and, later, "a connoisseur of wine" in French, did not appear in English until the 19th century, by which time it had developed the sense "a connoisseur of food and drink." Gourmand had by that time developed a similar "connoisseur" sense of its own, but it still retained suggestions of a hearty appetite. The distinction between the two words became a topic for discussion as soon as gourmet entered the language: • The gourmand unites theory with practice.... The gourmet is merely theoretical —A. D. MacQuin, footnote, Tabella Cibaria, 1820 (OED) In the 20th century, the distinction has been expressed somewhat differently, usually along the following lines: a gourmet is a knowledgeable and fastidious epicure; a gourmand is a person who likes good food in large quantities—a gourmet who eats too much. Gourmand is often described as having contemptuous overtones that gourmet lacks. What our evidence shows, primarily, is that gourmet is a far more common word than gourmand. Gourmand seems to be little used except by those who consciously distinguish it from gourmet. The contemptuous overtones of gourmand, however, are no longer strong, and are often entirely absent: • ... thousands of gourmets and gourmands of all ages were busily indulging in the specialties —Leslie Maitland, N.Y. Times, 17 May 1976 • In this capital of dedicated gourmands, the classic banquet takes on staggering proportions —Bruce David Colen, Town & Country, May 1980 • ... a delightful haven for gourmet, gourmand, and epicure —Michael T. Kaufman, N. Y. Times, 23 Jan. 1983 Gourmand sometimes occurs in contexts where it seems to be serving as little more than a synonym of gourmet: • Deaths due to tetrodotoxin continue because several species of poisonous puffers ... are highly prized by Oriental gourmands —Joseph S. Levine, Smithsonian, September 1981 But such usage seems unlikely to become common, if only because gourmet itself has become so well established as the word for "connoisseur." The meaning of gourmand is now certainly closer to gourmet than it is to glutton, but our evidence shows clearly that gourmand and gourmet are still words with distinct meanings in the bulk of their use, and are likely to remain so. |
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