tique

Forms

tique f or m (plural tiques)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Middle English tike (“tick”), brought to France by English troops during the Hundred Years' War.^[2][3][4][5] The Middle English word, later also ticke, comes from Old English ticia;^[1][6] Rey supposes an Old English form *ticca or *tica.^[3] It has relatives with other vowels in Middle Dutch teke, Old High German zecho and German Zecke.^[3][6] Armenian and Irish words have also been compared, without making up a clear Indo-European family.^[3]

Bloch and Wartburg reject a Dutch source because Middle Dutch has only forms in ⟨e⟩,^[4] but the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert give Middle Dutch tike, perhaps through English.^[7][8] The Italian word zecca is a separate borrowing from Lombardic.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1464, in Jehan Lagadeuc's Catholicon, naming the tick, the blood-sucking parasite.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has not changed: in the 16th century Amyot wrote that the horsefly torments bulls et aussi fait la tique aux chiens (“and the tick does the same to dogs”).^[9] Nicot (1606) gives tique or tiquet,^[10] and Cotgrave (1611) glosses it as “the vermine called a Ticke”.^[11] Littré records the simile soûl comme une tique “very drunk”, because the tick gorges itself on blood and then seems motionless.^[9]

Timeline

• 1464 – First recorded in Lagadeuc's Catholicon.^[2][4]
• 16th century – Amyot uses it for the tick on dogs.^[9]
• 1606 – Nicot records tique or tiquet.^[10]
• 1611 – Cotgrave glosses it “the vermine called a Ticke”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tick, a blood-sucking acarien (Ixodes) that fastens itself to the skin of animals such as dogs and cattle, and sometimes people, and can pass on diseases.^[8][12][2]

Related words

• ixode
• English tick

Usage notes

Wiktionnaire also has a separate noun tique, taken from Spanish, for a Chilean evergreen tree, Aextoxicon punctatum.^[13] Tique is a homophone of tic.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Nicot, Jean (1606), Thresor de la langue françoyse, tant ancienne que moderne, Paris: David Douceur
11. ^ a b Cotgrave, Randle (1611), A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, London: Adam Islip
12. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
13. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org