toucher

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tu.ʃe/^[1]

Forms

toucher^[1] Old French tuchier (1080), tochier (about 1155) and touchier.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman tocher, thucher, tuscher.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French tochier, inherited from Vulgar Latin *toccō (“to knock, strike”), probably an onomatopoeic formation “to go “toc””, which every Romance language kept at the expense of classical Latin tangō (“to touch”).^{[5][2][6][7][8]} The original sense “to strike” is close to Romanian toca (“to sound the call to prayer with a wooden clapper”) and Spanish tocar (“to ring bells”); in French “to strike” gave way to “to reach” and “to touch” before the first texts.^[6][2] Pierre Guiraud proposed instead a Romance “*tudicare”, from Latin tundō (“to beat”).^[2][3] Wiktionary allows a Germanic source, Frankish *tukkōn (“to hit, bump”), and Diez had thought of Old High German “zuchôn” “to pull”.^[1][9]

Cognate with Italian toccare, Occitan tocar, Catalan tocar and Portuguese tocar; toc, toquer and tocsin come from the same sound.^[8][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) meaning “to make contact with”: Deus le guarit, qu'el cors ne l'ad tuchet (“God protected him, so that it did not touch his body”); the same text uses it of driving animals with a stick.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Contact with the hand is recorded in Philippe de Thaon (1121–1134), and sexual contact about 1145.^[5] The touching king of tradition “cured” by laying on hands (1560).^[2] It was used of playing an instrument (about 1200), and toucher la corde sensible dates from 1774.^[2][11]

From the sense “to reach” came “to concern, relate to” (en ce qui touche), “to move, affect emotionally”, and, from 1311 and again from the 16th century, “to receive (money)”: toucher son salaire.^[5][11][9] Toucher à means to meddle with or begin on something (1636), and ne pas toucher à la nourriture “not to eat” is from 1564.^[2] The infinitive used as a noun, le toucher, the sense of touch, is found from the end of the 12th century (toukier).^[3][12] English borrowed the verb as touch in the 14th century.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Tuchier in the Chanson de Roland.^[5]
• 1121–1134 – Touching with the body, in Philippe de Thaon.^[5]
• c. 1200 – Playing an instrument.^[11][2]
• Late 12th century – Le toucher, the sense of touch.^[3]
• 1456 – Toucher la main à quelqu'un.^[5]
• 1534 – Sainte-Nitouche in Rabelais.^[6]
• 1585 – “To receive money”.^[5][11]
• 1841 – Touche-à-tout.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To touch, come into contact with: toucher un objet.^[13][14]
2. To hit, reach a target: toucher la cible.^[3]
3. To be next to, adjoin: la maison touche l'église.^[3]
4. To move, affect: votre lettre m'a touché.^[1]
5. To concern, relate to: en ce qui touche.^[9]
6. To receive (money), earn: toucher un salaire.^[1][11]
7. Toucher à: to meddle with; to try; to approach: toucher à sa fin.^[1][2]
8. (informal) S'y toucher, en toucher une: to know a thing or two.^[1]
9. To play (an instrument) (dated).^[11]

Noun

1. The sense of touch; the feel of a thing: doux au toucher.^[8]
2. A pianist's way of striking the keys, toucher de balle in sport.^[8]
3. (medicine) Examination with the fingers.^[8]

Word family

• touche
• toucheur
• attouchement
• retoucher
• sainte-nitouche
• touche-à-tout

Related words

• toc
• toquer
• tocsin
• English touch

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 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. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 3a
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. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e f Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
12. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
13. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
14. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)