'Taste' is Latin for 'touching with the tongue' — from 'tangere' (to touch). A specialized touch.
The sensation of flavor perceived in the mouth; a person's liking or preference; to perceive or experience the flavor of something.
From Old French 'taster' (to taste, to feel, to touch), from Vulgar Latin *taxitāre (to touch repeatedly, to handle, to taste), a frequentative form of Latin 'taxāre' (to touch, to assess, to handle), itself an intensive of 'tangere' (to touch), from PIE *tag- (to touch, to handle). 'Taste' is ultimately 'touch' experienced by the tongue: the semantic chain moves from physical handling to oral contact to gustatory perception. Latin 'taxāre' also gave 'tax' (to assess by handling goods) and 'task' (a duty assessed), making 'taste,' 'tax,' and 'task' etymological
In Middle English, 'tasten' still meant 'to touch' or 'to test by touching' before it narrowed to the gustatory sense. Shakespeare used 'taste' in the older sense of 'experience' or 'test,' as in 'taste the fruits of peace.' The aesthetic sense — 'good taste' in art or fashion — emerged in the 17th century, treating aesthetic judgment as a form of sensory perception, the mind 'tasting' beauty the way