hocher

Forms

hocher^[1] Old French hochier, also hoquer and hocier; the form hocher is found about 1398 in the Ménagier de Paris.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French hochier, borrowed from Frankish *hottisōn (“to shake”), derived from *hottōn (“to make swing, rock”).^[2][5][6][7] The Frankish verb is reconstructed from Middle Dutch hutselen and hutsen “to shake, toss, swing” and Dutch hutsen.^[2][5] Wiktionary takes it further back to Proto-Germanic *hud- (“to swing, rock, shake”) and compares English hustle.^[1] Littré had already named the Flemish word, with Walloon hosi.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as hochier “to shake, move” in Wace's Roman de Brut in 1155;^[2][5] about 1170 Béroul's Tristan has hoquer le chief “to shake the head”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the verb meant to shake or stir, and also had an erotic use, like branler.^[5][6] The general sense, as in shaking a fruit tree, survives only in regional French (Champagne, Lorraine), and in general use the verb is now confined to hocher la tête, recorded from about 1170.^[5][8] Classical French also said hocher la bride or le mors to a horse, to rouse it by shaking the bit, and hocher du nez for showing displeasure, both now out of use.^[4][3][2]

The derivatives are hochet, first a game of knucklebones (1381), then a child's rattle (1391); hochement (early 14th century), mostly in hochement de tête (1552); and the compounds hochepot (about 1220), a stew, and hochequeue (1549), the wagtail.^[5]

Timeline

• 1155 – Hochier “to shake” in Wace's Roman de Brut.^[2]
• c. 1170 – Hoquer le chief in Béroul's Tristan.^[2]
• c. 1220 – The compound hochepot.^[5]
• 1391 – Hochet “child's rattle”.^[5]
• c. 1398 – The form hocher in the Ménagier de Paris.^[4]
• 1549 – Hoque-queue, later hochequeue.^[5]
• 1694 – The Académie records hocher la bride à un cheval.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. Hocher la tête: to nod or shake one's head, up and down or from side to side, to show agreement, doubt or refusal: Le vieil homme hocha la tête sans répondre.^[8][2][1]
2. (dated or regional) To shake or stir something: hocher un pommier.^[8][2][3]
3. Of a bird, to wag its tail.^[2]

Word family

• hochet
• hochement
• hochepot
• hochequeue

Related words

• branler
• secouer

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has a separate verb hocher (its no. 2), “to notch”, recorded as hoschier in the early 14th century, with oschier “to chip” about 1210; it is formed on hoche “notch”, and P. Guiraud proposed Vulgar Latin *oscicare as its source.^[6][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
3. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 231b
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert