mid-15c., "a pickling fluid, seasoning, sauce, something used to give relish to food," from Old French condiment (13c.), from Latin condimentum "spice, seasoning, sauce," from condire "to preserve, pickle, season, put fruit in vinegar, wine, spices, etc.," a variant of condere "put together, store," from assimilated form of com "together" (see con-) + -dere "put," from PIE root *dhe- "to put, place."

Related: Condimental. Middle English also had a verb condite (early 15c.) "to season, prepare or preserve with salt, spices, sugar, etc."

1670s, "dish of chopped meat, anchovies, eggs, onions, with oil and condiments," from French salmigondis (16c.), originally "seasoned salt meats" (compare French salmis "salted meats"), from salmigondin (16c.), a word of uncertain origin.

Watkins derives it from Latin sal "salt" (from PIE root *sal- "salt") + condire "to season, flavor" (see condiment). The French word is probably related to or influenced by Old French salemine "hodgepodge of meats or fish cooked in wine," which was borrowed in Middle English as salomene (early 14c.). French salmi, meanwhile, made its way into English by 1759 for a particular kind of ragout; Century Dictionary describes it as "A ragout of roasted woodcocks, larks, thrushes, or other species of game, minced and stewed with wine, little pieces of bread, and other ingredients to stimulate the appetite."

Salmagundi in the figurative sense of "mixture of various ingredients" is from 1761; it was the title of Washington Irving's satirical publication (1807-08). In dialect, salmon-gundy, solomon-gundy.

*dhē-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to set, put."

It forms all or part of: abdomen; abscond; affair; affect (v.1) "make a mental impression on;" affect (v.2) "make a pretense of;" affection; amplify; anathema; antithesis; apothecary; artifact; artifice; beatific; benefice; beneficence; beneficial; benefit; bibliothec; bodega; boutique; certify; chafe; chauffeur; comfit; condiment; confection; confetti; counterfeit; deed; deem; deface; defeasance; defeat; defect; deficient; difficulty; dignify; discomfit; do (v.); doom; -dom; duma; edifice; edify; efface; effect; efficacious; efficient; epithet; facade; face; facet; facial; -facient; facile; facilitate; facsimile; fact; faction (n.1) "political party;" -faction; factitious; factitive; factor; factory; factotum; faculty; fashion; feasible; feat; feature; feckless; fetish; -fic; fordo; forfeit; -fy; gratify; hacienda; hypothecate; hypothesis; incondite; indeed; infect; justify; malefactor; malfeasance; manufacture; metathesis; misfeasance; modify; mollify; multifarious; notify; nullify; office; officinal; omnifarious; orifice; parenthesis; perfect; petrify; pluperfect; pontifex; prefect; prima facie; proficient; profit; prosthesis; prothesis; purdah; putrefy; qualify; rarefy; recondite; rectify; refectory; sacrifice; salmagundi; samadhi; satisfy; sconce; suffice; sufficient; surface; surfeit; synthesis; tay; ticking (n.); theco-; thematic; theme; thesis; verify.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit dadhati "puts, places;" Avestan dadaiti "he puts;" Old Persian ada "he made;" Hittite dai- "to place;" Greek tithenai "to put, set, place;" Latin facere "to make, do; perform; bring about;" Lithuanian dėti "to put;" Polish dziać się "to be happening;" Russian delat' "to do;" Old High German tuon, German tun, Old English don "to do."

condiment made from types of dried, ground sweet red peppers, 1839, from Hungarian paprika, a diminutive from Serbo-Croatian papar "pepper," from Latin piper or Modern Greek piperi (see pepper (n.)). A condiment made from a New World plant, introduced into Eastern Europe by the Turks; known in Hungary by 1569.

"compound of fruits and spices used as a condiment in the East Indies," 1813, said to be from Hindi chatni "to lick."

late 14c., compote, "mixture of stewed fruits, a preserve," from Old French composte "mixture of leaves, manure, etc., for fertilizing land" (13c.), also "condiment," from Vulgar Latin *composita, noun use of fem. of Latin compositus, past participle of componere "to put together," from com "with, together" (see com-) + ponere "to place" (see position (n.)).

The fertilizer sense is attested in English from 1580s, and the French word in this sense is a 19th century borrowing from English. The condiment sense now goes with compote, a later borrowing from French.

also chilli, "pod or fruit of a type of American pepper, used as a condiment," 1660s, from Nahuatl (Aztecan) chilli, native name for the peppers. Not named for the South American country. As short for chile con carne and similar dishes, attested by 1846.

"one addicted to making saucy remarks," 1580s, sawcebox; see saucy + box (n.1). There never seems to have been a literal sense in reference to the "condiment" meaning of sauce; a sauce-boat (1733) was a small, lipped vessel for sauces, and compare saucer. A saucery (mid-15c.) was "a place where sauces are made."