Cinsault

noun

Cin·​sault ˈsan-ˌsō 

variants or cinsault

: a red grape widely grown in southern France and often used in blends and for making dry rosés

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, earlier Cinsaut, Cinq-Saou, borrowed from Occitan of Languedoc (Hérault, Gard) cinsau, sinsau, of obscure origin

Note: It is uncertain if the French/Occitan word is attested before the 19th century. The grape was already being cultivated in an Algiers plant nursery in 1850 (see Catalogue des végétaux cultivés à la pépinière centrale du gouvernement à Alger, attributed to Auguste Hardy, Algiers, 1850, p. 78). Sinsau occurs in a list of grape varieties, along with aramoun, terret, and alicanta in an Occitan poem, La Manideta, by the Felibre Antoine Roux (1842-1915), published in Revue des langues romanes, tome 32 (1888), p. 87. Cf. Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Band 22, Lieferung 138, p. 67.

First Known Use

1945, in the meaning defined above

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