Delicatessen

:This article is about food stores. For the movie, see Delicatessen (film).

Origin of the word

Reference works state that the word delicatessen comes from German Delikatessen, and that this German word is the plural of Delikatesse, which in turn comes from French and means "delicate things (to eat)". The word delicate is recorded in Latin as delicatus, with the meaning "giving pleasure, delightful".

Related Topics:
German - French - Latin

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An alternative popular etymology supposes that the -essen part of the word is in fact the German word essen (= English: to eat, German: das Essen = English: the food). This etymology is considered unlikely because the German language uses endings on adjectives that modify nouns: "delicate food", in the nominative case, would be "delikates Essen", not "delikat Essen".

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