teigne

Forms

teigne f (plural teignes)^[1] Old French also tigne (late 12th century) and taigne (1265); Anglo-Norman teyne, tegne and other spellings.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tinea (“moth, worm”).^[5][6][7][1] The Latin word, of unknown origin, named many kinds of worms and mites, and in particular the moth.^[8] Latin texts record it only for the insect, but it must have taken the sense “scalp disease” in popular Latin, since that sense exists everywhere in Romance;^[7][8] Medieval Latin has it for ringworm in England about 1060.^[5]

Cognate with Italian tigna, Old Occitan tenha, Catalan tinya, Spanish tiña and Portuguese tinha.^[9][10][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cambridge Psalter (first half of the 12th century) has it for the moth, the small insect that eats cloth.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

At the end of the 12th century taigne or tigne named the disease of the scalp, which modern medicine has found to be a parasitic skin disease.^[5][8][2] Littré explains the name by the likeness of the sores to the damage done by the insect.^[10] Rabelais used it for the parasitic plant dodder (1546).^[5]

As with other names of diseases, it came to mean a spiteful person: Balzac wrote laids comme des teignes in 1839, and plus mauvaise qu'une teigne is found in 1859.^[5][8] The comparison cela tient comme une teigne (1640) has gone out of use.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – The Cambridge Psalter uses it for the moth.^[5][2]
• late 12th century – Taigne names a scalp disease, in Audigier.^[5]
• 15th century – The spelling teigne for the disease.^[8][2]
• 1546 – Rabelais applies it to dodder.^[5]
• 1640 – Tenir comme une teigne.^[8]
• 1839 – Balzac's laids comme des teignes.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small dull-coloured moth of the family Tineidae, whose caterpillars damage crops, stored grain, cloth and furs.^[11][5][2]
2. (medicine) Ringworm, a fungal disease of the scalp that can make the hair fall out.^[11][1]
3. (figurative) A spiteful, vicious person: Quelle teigne, ce voisin !;^[11][1] méchant comme une teigne “very nasty”.^[11][1]
4. (Quebec) A persistent, annoying person.^[11]

Word family

• teigneux
• tignasse
• tignon

Related words

• mite
• Latin tinea

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/1, 340b
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert