ouch

ouch¹ brooch, setting for a jewel

Etymology

The brooch is inherited from Middle English ouche, a form of nouche,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman nouche, also nusche,^[4][2][6] with its Old French counterpart nosche, also noche and nouche.^[3][7][8][9] The initial n- was lost when “a nouche” was taken as “an ouche”, as in adder and apron;^{[7][3][10][9][11]} Collins dates “a nouche” to the 14th century and “an ouch” to the 15th,^[11] while the American Heritage Dictionary places the misdivision already in Anglo-Norman, “une nouche” becoming “une ouche”.^[4] The French word is of Germanic origin,^{[4][3][2][11]} from Frankish according to the Shorter Oxford;^[7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged compares Old Saxon nuska, nuskia, Middle Dutch nusche and Old High German nusca (“clasp, brooch”), and relates it to net.^[3] Klein takes it through Medieval Latin nusca from the Old High German word.^[8] The American Heritage Dictionary refers it to the root Proto-Indo-European *ned-,^[4] which Klein glosses "to knot, twist";^[8] Klein, Skeat, Weekley and the Shorter Oxford think the Germanic word perhaps Celtic, comparing Old Irish nasc (“a tie, chain; a ring”) and Breton nask (“a rope for tying animals”).^{[8][5][10][7]}

Earliest recorded meaning

A jewelled ornament, a mounted gem or cluster of gems, a brooch, buckle or clasp: 1317, as nuche, in a London document, and in 1322 as nouche.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word covered brooches, pins, clasps, bracelets and necklaces set with gems.^[2] Chaucer and Gower each use nouche three times;^[12] Weekley quotes Chaucer's House of Fame, where things "were set as thikke of nouchis / Full of the fynest stones faire".^[10] The OED records the form ouch, a clasp or brooch, from 1382,^[13] and the sense of the gold or silver setting of a precious stone from 1481;^[13] the Authorized Version's "thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold" (Exodus 28:11) uses it in this sense.^[3][10] Johnson (1755) defined it as "an ornament of gold or jewels", quoting Bacon, and also gave ouch of a boar, the blow of a boar's tusk.^[14][13] From 1612 it could mean a carbuncle or sore on the skin, a sense now obsolete.^[13] A verb ouch, to adorn with ouches, is recorded from 1610.^[13][7] The word is now archaic.^[11][7]

Timeline

• 1317 – nuche, a jewelled clasp or brooch.^[2]
• 1382 – ouch, a clasp, buckle or brooch.^[13]
• 1481 – the setting of a precious stone.^[13]
• 1610 – verb, to adorn with ouches.^[13]
• 1612 – a carbuncle or sore on the skin (obsolete).^[13]
• 1736 – the blow of a boar's tusk (obsolete).^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) A clasp, buckle or brooch, especially one set with gems.^[11][3][7]
2. (archaic) The setting of a precious stone.^[11][3][13]

Verb

1. (archaic) To adorn with ouches.^[13][7]

ouch² cry of pain

Etymology

The cry of pain is probably borrowed from Pennsylvania German autch (“a cry of pain”),^[15][16] which Etymonline spells “outch”,^[16] from German autsch.^[16][9] The OED calls it ultimately imitative and perhaps from the German interjection, noting that the earliest examples are all American and so perhaps from Pennsylvania German; it also compares ow.^[17] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives its origin as unknown,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English call it a natural exclamation, first recorded in the mid 17th century.^[7][18] That early date rests on a verb “ouching” quoted from 1654 in the first edition of the OED, which the revised OED shows to be a misreading of “Onching”.^[17]

Earliest recorded meaning

Expressing sudden physical pain, and also emotional pain or disappointment: 1838, in J. C. Neal's Charcoal Sketches.^[17][3] Barnhart dates it to 1837.^[15]

Semantic evolution

The interjection was soon used as a noun for a cry of "ouch" or an experience that provokes one (1843).^[17] From 1898 there was a verb, at first to say "ouch", now also to hurt.^[17] In the 20th century it came to express sympathy with someone else's pain (1912) and, chiefly in jest, to answer an insult or a cutting remark (1916).^[17]

Timeline

• 1837 – first record according to Barnhart.^[15]
• 1838 – an exclamation of physical or emotional pain.^[17][3]
• 1843 – noun, a cry of "ouch".^[17]
• 1898 – verb, to cry "ouch".^[17]
• 1912 – expressing sympathy with another's pain.^[17]
• 1916 – a humorous response to an insult.^[17]

Meanings

Interjection

1. Used to express sudden pain: Ouch! That pan is hot.^[11][3][17]
2. Used to express hurt feelings, displeasure or sympathy with someone else's pain.^[3][17]
3. Used, chiefly humorously, in reply to an insult or a cutting remark.^[17]

Noun

1. A cry of "ouch"; an experience that makes one cry it.^[17][7]

Verb

1. To cry "ouch"; also, to hurt.^[17][7]

Word family

• ouchie
• ouchy