Tastynge

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Archaic word for the act of sampling food or drink with the mouth to judge its flavor ; a trial or testing of something by experiencing it firsthand
2. The act of savoring a food or liquid to discover its flavor ; an experimental trial that tests a thing through direct experience
3. Sampling something by mouth to learn its savor ; putting something to the test by actually trying or experiencing it

Etymology: "Tastynge" is a Middle English form of "tasting," the present participle and verbal noun of "taste." It appears in the late fourteenth century, and its spelling reflects the Middle English habit of writing the -ing ending with a y or an e before the suffix, so readers who meet it in Chaucer-era texts are looking at an ordinary gerund in older spelling rather than a separate word. The root verb "tasten" came into English from Old French "taster," meaning to touch, feel, or test by touch, and that French word descends from Late Latin "taxare," a frequentative of Latin "tangere," to touch. The original sense was physical handling, and the connection to the mouth came later. Medieval English used "taste" for both tasting food and feeling something with the hand, a double meaning that survives in the phrase "to taste" as an act of testing quality.