mouche

Forms

mouche f (plural mouches)^[1] Old French musche, mosche (about 1120); mouche from the 13th century.^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman also moche and muske.^[5] Dialect forms include Picard mouke and Walloon mohe.^[6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French mosche, inherited from Latin musca (“fly; a curious, intrusive person”).^{[2][7][8][4][9][1]} Rey explains the Latin noun as a diminutive with a ⟨-c-⟩ suffix of an Indo-European root, probably an imitation of buzzing, also seen in Ancient Greek μυῖα (muîa, “fly”) and Old Norse mý (“midge”).^[7] Wiktionary gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *mus- (“fly”).^[1]

Cognate with Italian mosca, Occitan mosca, Catalan mosca, Spanish mosca, Portuguese mosca and Romanian muscă.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1120 in the Oxford Psalter, as musche, for the fly, the two-winged insect.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Until the 17th century the word also named many insects outside the fly family: the bee (1213), also called mouche à miel and still so called in Acadia, Louisiana and Guadeloupe, the wasp (mousches guespes, 1552) and the horsefly (mousche aus beufs, 1636).^[2][7] Furetière still counted bumblebees, hornets and glow-worms among the mouches.^[7] In Quebec mouche à feu is the firefly.^[7][11]

Many phrases date from this wide use.^[7] Prendre la mouche “to take offence” (1640) is the modern form of prendre mouskes (about 1350), and quelle mouche l'a piqué ? (1611) continues quel mouche le point ? (1485).^[2][7] Fine handwriting was called pieds de mouche (1616) and later pattes de mouches (1798).^[2] On prend plus de mouches avec le sucre qu'avec le vinaigre is recorded in 1718, on eût entendu voler une mouche in Stendhal (1836) and ne pas faire de mal à une mouche in Balzac (1844).^[2][7] Faire la mouche du coche comes from La Fontaine's fable Le Coche et la Mouche.^[8][11]

From the insect's quickness came fine mouche “a sharp, cunning person” (1486) and, in a bad sense, “spy” (1574, Amyot), the source of mouchard.^[2][7][8] The word was also used for a small warship (1814) and a small steamboat (1867), whence bateau-mouche.^[2][11] By likeness of shape or colour it named a patch of black taffeta worn on the face (1618), an artificial fly for fishing (1801), the black spot in the centre of a target (1834, Musset), whence faire mouche, and a tuft of hair below the lower lip (1840).^[2][11]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Musche in the Oxford Psalter.^[2]
• 1213 – Used of the bee.^[2][7]
• c. 1350 – Prendre mouskes “to take offence”.^[2]
• 1486 – Fine mouche.^[2]
• 1567 – The derivative mouchard.^[8]
• 1574 – “Spy”, in Amyot.^[2]
• 1611 – Quelle mousche l'a piqué, in Cotgrave.^[2]
• 1618 – A taffeta beauty spot.^[2]
• 1640 – Prendre la mouche, in Oudin.^[2]
• 1801 – The artificial fly used in fishing.^[2]
• 1834 – The centre of a target, in Musset.^[2]
• 1840 – A tuft of beard below the lip.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fly, a two-winged insect, especially the housefly: mouche tsé-tsé, mouche du vinaigre.^[11][1]
2. (dated or regional) Any small flying insect, mouche à miel, the bee, (Canada) mouche à feu, the firefly.^[11][7]
3. (historical) A small patch of black taffeta worn on the face as a beauty spot.^[11][2]
4. (fishing) An artificial fly: pêche à la mouche, fly fishing.^[11][1]
5. (fencing) The button on the tip of a foil.^[11]
6. The bullseye of a target: faire mouche, to hit the bullseye; to hit the mark.^[11][1]
7. A small tuft of beard below the lower lip, a soul patch.^[11][1]
8. (historical) A spy, especially a police informer.^[11][1]
9. Fine mouche: a sharp, cunning person.^[11][7]
10. (boxing) Poids mouche: flyweight.^[11]
11. Prendre la mouche: to take offence, flare up;^[11] quelle mouche l'a piqué ?: what has got into him?^[11][7]
12. Faire la mouche du coche: to bustle about to no purpose.^[11][8]

Word family

• moucheron
• moucheter
• moucheture
• mouchard
• moucharder
• émoucher
• émouchette
• oiseau-mouche
• gobe-mouche
• bateau-mouche

Related words

• moustique
• mousquet
• Latin musca

Usage notes

Rey notes a rich set of comparisons in European and North American French, such as tomber comme des mouches “to drop like flies”.^[7][11] Mouche à merde, the bluebottle, is mouche à marde in Quebec.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v 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. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 248a
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert