tic

Forms

tic m (plural tics)^[1] First spelled ticq (1611); tic is recorded from 1678.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is an onomatopoeic formation on the syllable tikk-, which expresses a sudden movement.^[2][5][4] The DHLF puts it among words built on a consonant pattern t–k suggesting a blow or a jerky movement, as in tac.^[6] Bloch and Wartburg also take it as probably onomatopoeic, like tic-tac, and think that Italian ticchio, which in popular speech came to mean “whim”, may be borrowed from French.^[7][8]

Littré took the word from the Italian one and compared German ticken (“to touch lightly”), noting Diez's derivation of the Italian word from Old High German ziki (“kid, young goat”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cotgrave records ticq in 1611 for a convulsive movement of a horse.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The word was first a term of veterinary medicine, for a horse's habit of gulping or belching air with spasms of the neck muscles.^[6][2] It was soon applied to people, for an involuntary, convulsive movement repeated without purpose: the DHLF and the Petit Robert date this to 1654, the TLFi to Scarron's Virgile travesti (1668).^[6][8][2] The verb tiquer followed in 1664, first of horses.^[6][7]

In 1736 Marivaux used tic for an odd, more or less ridiculous habit, describing three old men who each had one, and in 1738 Piron extended it to a mania of the mind: “Ici, l'amour des vers est un tic de famille” (“here the love of verse is a family tic”).^[2][6] The French word reached English as a medical term, in tic douloureux (1798) and tic (1822).^[10]

Timeline

• 1611 – Cotgrave records ticq, of horses.^[2][7]
• 1654 – It is first used of people.^[6][7][8]
• 1664 – The verb tiquer appears in the Parfait Mareschal.^[7][6]
• 1668 – Scarron uses it for an involuntary movement in a person.^[2]
• 1736 – Marivaux uses it for an odd habit.^[2][6]
• 1738 – Piron uses it for a mania.^[2][6]
• 1798 – English has tic douloureux.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (veterinary) A vice of horses, gulping or belching air with movements of the head and neck.^[8][2][11]
2. A twitch, a sudden involuntary spasm of certain muscles, especially of the face: elle a un tic à l'œil gauche.^[8][11][12]
3. A habitual gesture or attitude that repetition makes faintly ridiculous, a mannerism.^[8][12]
4. A habit or mania in speech or style: des tics de langage.^[11][2]

Word family

• tiquer

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/1, 326a
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)