Cellaring

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act or process of storing wine or other items in a cellar for preservation or aging
2. Keeping products such as wine or food in a cool, underground room to maintain quality
3. The practice of placing goods in a cellar to protect and mature them over time

Etymology: Storerooms for wine and food were once built below ground because the earth keeps a steady, cool temperature. The English word "cellar" came into Middle English as "celer" and "seler," borrowed from Anglo-Norman, which took it from Old French "celier" (modern "cellier"). That French form descends from Late Latin "cellārium," a store room, built on the Latin "cella," meaning a storeroom or small chamber. So the underground idea is in the English word's descent from a plain word for a room used for storage. "Cellar" has a second, unrelated ancestor. A 15th-century English "saler," meaning a salt container, came from French "salière," which goes back to Latin "salarius," relating to salt, from "sal," salt. The two words merged in sense over time, so the English word for a salt dish and the word for a storeroom look alike for no shared reason beyond coincidence of form. "Cellaring" is simply the continuous form of "cellar" used as a verb: the act of putting products such as wine into a cellar to age or keep them in good condition.