Etymologically
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mouche

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Pronunciation

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
  • 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