appetite

It might seem surprising that the word "appetite" and the word "feather" derive from the same source. This shared source was an Indo-European word pronounced something like pter, meaning "wing." In Greek, this word developed into pteron, meaning "wing," which appears in "pterodactyl," an extinct flying reptile whose name literally means "wing-finger." Similarly, in the Germanic language family, the Indo-European pter developed into fethra, which evolved into the English "feather" in the eleventh century. In Latin, pter developed somewhat differently: it became the verb petere, meaning "to seek" or "to strive for," the connection being that wings are used to fly toward some desired goal (in English, we also talk about "winging our way" toward something). This Latin petere then became attached to the preposition ad, meaning "toward," so that the resulting adpetere literally meant "to strive toward something." From adpetere, the word "appetite" evolved, which-when it appeared in English in the late fourteenth century-had become a noun meaning "a desire for something," especially food. More recently, in the mid nineteenth century, "appetite" also gave rise to "appetizer," the name of a savoury treat that stimulates a desire for food.

mark morton is the author of Cupboard Love: A Dictionary of Culinary Curiosities (Insomniac Press, 2004). His most recent books are The Lover's Tongue: A Merry Romp through the Language of Love and Sex and The End: Closing Words for a Milennium. He teaches English literature at the University of Winnipeg in Canada.

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