Brewer's: Gourmand

and Gourmet (French). The gourmand is one whose chief pleasure is eating; but a gourmet is a connoisseur of food and wines. In England the difference is this: a gourmand regards quantity more than quality, a gourmet quality more than quantity. (Welsh, gor, excess; gorm, a fulness; gourmod, too much; gormant; etc.) (See Apicius.)

“In former times [in France] gourmand meant a judge of eating, and gourmet a judge of wine ... Gourmet is now universally understood to refer to eating, and not to drinking.” —Hamerton: French and English, part v. chap. iv. p.249.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Related Content