tactilis

Forms

tāctilis (neuter tāctile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin tangō (“to touch”) + -ilis, on the stem of the participle tāctus.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius (5.151) says that the gods' nature can touch nothing that is tactile for us (tactile nil nobis quod sit contingere debet).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Lucretius' line is the only passage the classical dictionaries cite for it.^[2][3][4] It is the source of French tactile, Italian tattile and Spanish táctil;^[1] English tactile (1610s) comes from French and directly from Latin.^[5]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of what can be touched.^[2][6]
• 1610s – English borrows it as tactile, “perceptible to touch”.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That can be touched, tangible.^[2][3]

Word family

• intāctilis

Related words

• English tactile

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de