ficher

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fi.ʃe/^[1]

Forms

ficher^[1] Old French fichier; the infinitive fiche (1807), modelled on foutre, is used in the familiar senses.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French fichier, inherited from Vulgar Latin *figicāre, later *ficcāre, from Latin fīgō (“to drive in, fix, pierce”).^[4][5][2][6] P. Guiraud supposed instead a form based on fictus, a variant of the participle fixus.^[2][7] Littré, after Diez, explained the Romance verb by a suffix “-icare” like that of fodicō.^[8]

Cognate with Italian ficcare, Old Occitan ficar, Spanish hincar and Portuguese fincar.^[5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1120, meaning “to pierce (the flesh)”;^[2] Wace (1130–1140) uses it for “to fix, fasten”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

“To drive in by the point” (about 1196) and se ficher “to stick, sink in” (about 1160) are old senses,^[2][4] now mostly in the participle fiché.^[2][7] Ficher le camp, properly “to pitch camp”, took the jocular sense “to leave” in 1752 and then “to run off”.^[2]

In the 16th century the verb was used for sexual penetration, so that from the 17th century ficher served as a euphemism for foutre,^[2][5] with the participle fichu (1611) remade on foutu and the infinitive fiche on foutre.^[4][5] Hence “to give” (1628), “to throw, put” (ficher qqn dehors), ne rien fiche “to do nothing”, se ficher de “to make fun of, not care about” (1691) and je m'en fiche “I don't care” (1808).^[4][2][10]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – “To pierce”.^[2]
• 1130–1140 – “To fasten” in Wace.^[4]
• c. 1160 – Se ficher “to stick in”.^[4]
• 1611 – The participle fichu.^[5]
• 1628 – “To give”, in thieves' slang.^[4]
• 1691 – Se ficher de.^[10]
• 1752 – Ficher le camp “to clear off”.^[2]
• 1807 – The infinitive fiche.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To drive in by the point: ficher un pieu en terre.^[11][12]
2. (familiar, also fiche) To do: qu'est-ce que tu fiches ?, ne rien fiche.^[4][1]
3. (familiar) To put, throw or give: ficher qqn à la porte, fiche-moi la paix.^[3][1]
4. Ficher le camp: to clear off.^[2][1]
5. (reflexive, familiar) Se ficher de: to make fun of; not to care about: je m'en fiche.^[1][10]

Word family

• je-m'en-fichisme
• fiche
• afficher
• fichu
• fichtre

Related words

• fixe
• foutre
• Latin fīgō

Usage notes

A second verb ficher “to put on an index card; to keep a file on (someone)” (1934, fiché par la police) is formed from fiche, itself a noun from the first ficher.^[4][11][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 506a
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)