tâche

Forms

tâche f (plural tâches)^[1] Old French tasche, also tasque in Picard texts.^[2][3] The spelling tâche is recorded about 1420.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin tasca, also tascha, a rural due paid as a share of the crop to the owner of newly cleared land (802 in the south of France, 1028 in the north), which gave Old Occitan tasca (1192).^[2] The Medieval Latin word comes from Latin taxō (“to touch; to appraise”),^[2][5] which the GLLF and Wiktionary trace to tangō (“to touch”);^[4][1] the Petit Robert thinks it more likely borrowed, in the sense “to appraise”, from Ancient Greek τάσσω (tássō, “to arrange, prescribe”).^[6] Rey and the GLLF cite the form taxa “rural due”.^[5][4] The Grand Robert mentions Guiraud's view that the noun is a back-formation from tâcher.^[7]

The word is related to taxe, taxer and taux.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Chrétien de Troyes' Chevalier de la Charrette (1176–1181) as tasche, a set amount of work undertaken for a fixed time and price.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The notion of payment for a given piece of work lived on in en tasche (14th century) and à la tâche (1606), of workers paid by the job rather than by the day.^[5][2] It fades in the figurative prendre à tâche de “to make a point of” (1640, Oudin), and, from 1782 (Diderot) the word also means a moral duty, what one is bound to do.^[2][5]

The Norman–Picard form passed into English as task in the 15th century.^[6] In computing tâche is a task run by the operating system.^[6]

Timeline

• 1176–1181 – Tasche in Chrétien de Troyes.^[2]
• 14th century – En tasche, of work paid by the job.^[5][4]
• c. 1393 – Euvrer en la piece ou en tache in the Ménagier de Paris.^[2]
• 1606 – À la tâche in Crespin.^[2]
• 1640 – Oudin records prendre à tâche de.^[2][8]
• 1782 – Diderot uses it for a duty one must fulfil.^[2]
• 1866 – Amiel writes mourir à la tâche.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A task: a set piece of work to be done, often within a given time.^[6][9]
2. À la tâche: paid by the piece of work done, not by the hour (travailler à la tâche); mourir à la tâche: to die in harness.^[6][2]
3. What one must do; a duty, mission or role.^[6][9]
4. (literary) Prendre à tâche de: to make a point of, strive to.^[6]
5. (computing) A task run by the operating system.^[6][9]

Word family

• tâcher
• tâcheron
• multitâche

Related words

• taxe
• taxer
• taux
• Latin taxō
• English task

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 l m 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. ^ 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)