Origins
The word 'restaurant' entered English from French, where its original meaning was not 'a place to eaβββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββt' but 'a restorative food' β specifically, a concentrated meat broth believed to restore the health of invalids and the exhausted. The word is the present participle of French 'restaurer' (to restore), from Latin 'restaurΔre' (to repair, rebuild, restore), composed of the prefix 're-' (again, back) and a root related to 'staurΔre' (to set up, erect).
The semantic journey from 'restorative broth' to 'dining establishment' is a distinctly Parisian story. In pre-revolutionary France, the preparation and sale of food was tightly controlled by guilds. The 'traiteurs' (caterers) had a monopoly on selling cooked meat dishes; the 'rΓ΄tisseurs' controlled roasted meats; the 'charcutiers' controlled pork products. A person who wanted a sit-down meal had few options outside of inns (which served table d'hΓ΄te β a fixed menu at a fixed time with no choice) or taverns (which served drinks but not food, or only simple fare).
In 1765, according to the traditional account, a Parisian bouillon-seller named Boulanger (or Boulenger) began serving his 'restaurants' β his restorative broths β at individual tables, allowing customers to choose from a list of dishes and eat at their own pace. He reportedly inscribed above his door a parodic Latin sentence: 'Venite ad me, omnes qui stomacho laboratis, et ego restaurabo vos' ('Come to me, all who labour with your stomachs, and I shall restore you'), a play on Matthew 11:28. The traiteurs' guild sued, but Boulanger prevailed, and other entrepreneurs soon imitated his model.
Development
The concept exploded during and after the French Revolution (1789). When the aristocracy fled or was destroyed, their private chefs β suddenly unemployed β opened restaurants for the newly empowered bourgeoisie. By 1800, Paris had over five hundred restaurants, and the institution had taken on its modern form: a public establishment with individual tables, a printed menu offering choices, and service at the customer's convenience.
The word entered English in the early nineteenth century, though English speakers had been visiting Parisian restaurants since the 1790s. The earliest English attestation in the modern sense dates to around 1827. Before that, English speakers used terms like 'eating-house,' 'chophouse,' 'tavern,' or 'ordinary' (a fixed-price communal meal at an inn) for comparable establishments.
The Latin ancestor 'restaurΔre' produced a family of English words through different borrowing paths. 'Restore' came through Old French 'restorer' in the thirteenth century. 'Restoration' followed in the fourteenth. 'Instauration' (a formal word for renewal or restoration, used by Francis Bacon for his 'Instauratio Magna') comes from the related Latin 'instaurΔre' (to renew, begin afresh), which shares the same root element. Even 'store' is ultimately related: Old French 'estorer' (to build, furnish, supply) comes from the same Latin source, and a 'store' is etymologically a place that is 'furnished' or 'stocked.'
Eastern Roots
The word 'restaurant' has been borrowed from French into virtually every European language and many non-European ones: German 'Restaurant,' Spanish 'restaurante,' Portuguese 'restaurante,' Dutch 'restaurant,' Russian 'restoran' (ΡΠ΅ΡΡΠΎΡΠ°Π½), Japanese 'resutoran' (γ¬γΉγγ©γ³), Arabic 'maαΉΚΏam' uses a different root but 'restΕrΔn' (Ψ±ΩΨ³ΨͺΩΨ±Ψ§Ω) is also used in Persian. Italian 'ristorante' is a native derivation from 'ristorare' (to restore), the Italian cognate of French 'restaurer,' rather than a direct borrowing β making it a parallel formation rather than a loan.