- gusto (n.)
- 1620s, "very common from the beginning of the 19th c." [OED], from Italian gusto "taste," from Latin gustus "a tasting," related to gustare "to taste, take a little of," from PIE *gus-tu-, suffixed form of root *geus- "to taste, choose" (source also of Sanskrit jus- "enjoy, be pleased," Avestan zaosa- "pleasure," Old Persian dauš- "enjoy"). The root forms words for "taste" in Greek and Latin, but its descendants in Germanic and Celtic mostly mean "try" or "choose" (such as Old English cosan, cesan, Modern English choose; Gothic kausjan "to test, to taste of," Old High German koston "try," German kosten "taste of"). The semantic development could have been in either direction. English first borrowed the French form, guste "organ of taste; sense of taste" (mid-15c.), but this became obsolete.
