gaunt

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See also: Gaunt

English

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WOTD – 16 September 2024

Etymology

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From Middle English gaunt, gawnt, gawnte, gant (“lean, slender, thin, gaunt”);[1] further etymology uncertain. Speculated origins include:[2]

  • from a North Germanic/Scandinavian source related to Old Norse gandr (“magic staff; stick”) (the ancestor of Icelandic gandur (“magic staff”) and Norwegian gand (“thin, pointed stick; tall, thin man”)), from Proto-Germanic *gandaz (“stick; staff”). Other suggested Germanic cognates include Swedish gank (“(dialectal) lean, emaciated horse”); Danish gand, gan, Norwegian gana (“cut-off tree limbs”); Bavarian Gunten (“kind of peg or wedge”). These words have all been connected to *gunþiz (“battle”) or its ultimate source,[3][4] but this comparison presents semantic and phonetic difficulties.
  • from Old French:
    • The NED/OED (1900) suggests it could be a "graphic adoption" of Old French gant, a variant spelling of gent (“elegant; nice, pleasant; noble”) modern French gent), from Latin gēns (“clan, tribe; country, nation; family; people”), from Proto-Italic *gentis, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁tis,[5] from the root *ǵenh₁- (“to produce, to beget, to give birth”). (It could not be an oral borrowing since the Old French word started with [dʒ], not [ɡ], due to the patalization of Latin "ge"; compare jaunty from French gentil.) If this etymology is correct, the early, now-obsolete positive or neutral sense 4.1 ("slender") was apparently original.
    • Spitzer 1944 argues it is more likely to be from the Norman version of Old French jau(l)net (“yellowish”),[6] diminutive of jaune (“yellow”), from Latin galbinus (the palatalization of Latin "ga" did not occur in northern French dialects).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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gaunt (comparative gaunter, superlative gauntest)

  1. Angular, bony, and lean.
  2. Unhealthily thin, as from hunger or illness: drawn, emaciated, haggard.
    Synonyms: scraggy, scrawny, skinny
  3. (figurative)
    1. Of a place or thing: bleak, desolate.
    2. (rare) Greedy; also, hungry, ravenous.
      • 1747, [Tobias Smollett], Reproof: A Satire. […], London: […] W. Owen, […]; and M. Cooper, […], →OCLC, page 7, lines 123–124:
        Gorg'd vvith our plunder, yet ſtill gaunt for ſpoil, / Rapacious G—d—n faſtens on our iſle; […]
  4. (obsolete)
    2. With a positive or neutral connotation: not overweight; lean, slender, slim.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:slender
      Antonyms: see Thesaurus:obese, Thesaurus:overweight
      • 1549 April 15 (Gregorian calendar), Hugh Latimer, “The Fifth Sermon Preached before King Edward [VI], April 5th, 1549.”, in The Sermons of the Right Reverend Father in God, and Constant Martyr of Jesus Christ, Hugh Latimer, Some Time Bishop of Worcester, […], volume I, London: […] James Duncan, […], published 1824, →OCLC, page 170:
        I know where a woman was got with child, and was ashamed at the matter, and went into a secret place, where she had no woman at her travail, and was delivered of three children at a birth. She wrung their necks, and cast them into a water, and so killed her children: suddenly she was gaunt again, and her neighbours suspecting the matter, caused her to be examined, and she granted all: […]
        The spelling has been modernized.
      • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXIII.] The Medecines which Grapes Fresh and New Gathered doe Yeeld. […].”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, pages 152–153:
        [T]hey vvho feed overmuch, and deſire to be gant and ſlender, and vvithall, to be coſtive, ought to forbear drinking at meales, ſo long as they eat, but after meat they may drink moderatly. To drinke vvine upon an emptie ſtomacke faſting, is a nevv found deviſe lately come up, and it is moſt unholeſome for the bodie, […]
      • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Eothen”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 516:
        [O]ur friend began to amend, and he was quite well (though gaunt as a greyhound) before they reached the Cape.
    3. (figurative) Of a sound: suggesting bleakness and desolation.
      • 1814, [John Galt], “The Prophetess; a Tragedy. […]”, in The New British Theatre; a Selection of Original Dramas, Not Yet Acted, […], volume I, London: […] A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy [for] Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene v, page 187:
        To the shouting throng / My fancy hears a dismal voice reply, / Like the gaunt echo of a hollow tomb.— […]

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “gaunt, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “Gaunt”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume IV (F–G), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 82.
  3. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “491-93”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 491-93
  4. ^ Quiles, C., Lopez-Menchero, F. (2009). A Grammar of Modern Indo-European: Language and Culture, Writing System and Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Texts and Dictionary, Etymology. United States: Asociación Cultural Dńghū., p. 60
  5. ^ “kind”; in: M. Philippa e.a., Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands
  6. ^ Spitzer, Leo (1944) “Anglo-French Etymologies”, in Modern Language Notes, volume 59, number 4, pages 223-250
  7. ^ “gaunt, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2024
  8. ^ “gaunt, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Scots

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Verb

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gaunt (third-person singular simple present gaunts, present participle gauntin, simple past gauntt, past participle gauntt)

  1. Alternative spelling of gant

Noun

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gaunt (plural gaunts)

  1. Alternative spelling of gant
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