1656, from Gk. gaster (gen. gastros) "stomach," by dissimilation from gran "to gnaw, eat." Gastronomy (1814) coined 1800 in Fr. as gastronomie by Joseph de Berchoux (1762-1838) as title of poem on good living, after Gastrologia, title of a now-lost poem of antiquity, quoted by Athenaeus, from gastro-