toux

Forms

toux f (invariable)^[1] Old French tos (late 11th century) and tous (1258); the spelling toux is recorded in 1414.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French tos, inherited from Latin tussis (“cough”).^[2][3][1] The Old French form tous (1258) was later spelled with ⟨x⟩, a purely graphic variant.^[3][2]

Cognate with Italian tosse, Romanian tuse, Occitan tos, Catalan tos, Spanish tos and Portuguese tosse.^[4][5] Rey finds no counterpart of the Latin word elsewhere in Indo-European, though it may be compared, with an expressive double ⟨ss⟩, with Latvian tust and tusnat “to breathe noisily”;^[3] Wiktionary instead traces it to Proto-Indo-European *tud-ti-s- (“cough”), from *(s)tewd-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as tos in the French glosses of Rashi at the end of the 11th century, and then about 1210 in the Bible of Guiot de Provins, meaning a cough.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the Latin sense: a forced, noisy expulsion of air, usually caused by irritation of the airways.^[3][6] Its form changed from tos to tous in the 13th century, and the modern spelling with ⟨x⟩ appears in 1414, in the Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris.^[2]

Medical usage distinguishes a dry cough from a productive one, toux sèche and toux grasse.^[6][7][5] The verb tousser replaced the older toussir, from Latin tussire, by a change of conjugation;^[3][8] Bloch and Wartburg note that tousser established itself in only part of the northern dialects, while some eastern ones and those of the south kept toussir.^[8]

Timeline

• late 11th century – Tos appears in Rashi's glosses.^[2][7]
• c. 1210 – Guiot de Provins uses tos in his Bible.^[2]
• 1258 – The form tous is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1414 – The spelling toux appears in the Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cough: a sudden, noisy expulsion of air from the lungs, caused by irritation of the airways.^[6][2][1]
2. Toux sèche, toux grasse: a dry cough, a productive cough.^[6][7]
3. Quinte de toux, accès de toux: a fit of coughing.^[6]

Word family

• tousser

Related words

• Latin tussis

Usage notes

Littré notes that the final ⟨x⟩ is never pronounced, even before a vowel.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France