Who else knew this already?

Question

Saber also means "to taste," like, "It tastes bad" = "Sabe mal."

I always wondered why Sabor had nothing to do with "knowledge" when Olor is related to "Oler" and Dolor to "Doler."

What's the history behind this word? It makes no sense to me for a word to mean both "to know" and "to taste."

Answer 1

From this etymology site:

La palabra saber proviene del latín "sapere" (tener inteligencia, tener buen gusto). Las palabras sabio, sabedor, sabiduría, al igual que sabor, sabroso y saborear también provienen de "sapere".

Es interesante notar como los romanos asociaban los sentidos con diferentes facultades intelectuales:

• El sabor se relaciona con el buen juicio y de ahí los dos sentidos de la palabra saber.

• El oído se relaciona con la recepción de información y la habilidad de aprender de ella, incluso cuando confronta (ob-) una paradigma que tenemos establecida.

• El tacto se relaciona con cuidado y mesura. De ahí que la palabra tacto, aparte de la sensación de tocar, significa tratar a alguien con delicadeza.

• El olor se relaciona con la capacidad de prevenir el futuro descubriendo claves del presente. De ahí la expresión "Esto me huele mal" y la palabra sagaz (de "sagax" = dotado de olfato fino).

• La vista se relaciona con la capacidad de análisis, de ahí palabras como perspectiva y prospectiva.

The Romans (and the Greeks on the other hand) had quite a few interesting ideas that are still present in modern-day languages.

bien dicho,, esta respuesta merece mi vota :) - 00b055e0, Apr 2, 2014

voto* - 00b055e0, Apr 2, 2014

Answer 2

Yes .. thats true ,, las fresas con queso SABEN un beso (strawberries with chese taste or feel like a kiss)

There are many words which don't make much sense in various constructions or uses - in almost all the languages ,, but if u try to excogitate over them logically, u most of the times can fugure some logical corelation or derivation .. For example ,, we can even ask ,, how does hacer mean "to do" and at the same time "to make" but if we ponder over it logically there is a corelation because to make somehing you have to do an action (like to make food one has to do cooking). And then there is also the concept of "figurative use" of many verbs and words.

You can think of it like this .. as per the spanish logic ,, the phenominon of taste as an intrinsic knowledge of the food item we are talking about ,, like we are saying ,, the strawberry knows the good taste which is why it tastes good,

Hope it helps

Answer 3

We have 'Taster' courses in England, to get some basic knowledge about a subject before embarking on a course of study. To have a taste of something can be applied to an experience eg I had a taste of skiing but hated it! So the two words know and taste are not totally unrelated. I look forward to input from others, too.

:) - ian-hill, Apr 2, 2014

Interesante! - SlimNm, Apr 2, 2014

Answer 4

In regards to the origin of "saber" "To know": It comes from Vulgar Latin which is different in many aspects from Classic Latin. Take a look at the link below and scroll down until you see the word "sapere".

Click Here

I hope this helps! This is all I remember right now! Maybe there is some sort of a link to "to taste." Maybe the word "saber" for taste" is linked to "to savor. " "sapor" in Latin. - jphip, Apr 2, 2014

Answer 5

See my friend ,, I have another word for u which has multiple meanings ,, look up the word ensayo in the translator ,, u will get three or four different meanings (essay, rehearsal, trial) ,, so there are many words that have multiple meanings.