tactus

Forms

tāctus m (genitive tāctūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from tangō (“to touch”) with the suffix -tus of action nouns.^[2][1] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Italic *tang- and the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *th₂-n-g- (“to touch”), cognate with Ancient Greek τεταγών (tetagṓn, “having seized”) and Gothic 𐍄𐌴𐌺𐌰𐌽 (tekan, “to touch”); the long vowel of ⟨tāct-⟩ is due to Lachmann's Law.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucretius,^[3] who speaks of stone worn by the touch of people greeting and passing by.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of touching or physical contact, as Cicero's man who is not captured by any smell, touch or taste, and the strings that answer every touch.^[2][4] It is also the sense of touch, beside sight and hearing in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, and in the plural tactile qualities, as Pliny the Elder's “what smells and tastes, what juices, what touches, what colours!”.^[2] Figuratively it is contact or influence, as Cicero's feeling that his speech takes on colour from contact with the Greek writers.^[2][4]

Church Latin also glosses it “handling, operation, influence, effect” and “blemish”.^[5] English tact is from it, first in the 1650s as “sense of touch”.^[6]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of stone worn by touch.^[4][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of touch beside smell and taste, and of influence.^[2][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of tactile qualities.^[2][7]
• 1650s – Borrowed into English as tact, “sense of touch”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Touch, physical contact, handling.^[2][4][1]
2. The sense of touch;^[2][1] (plural) tactile qualities.^[2]
3. Contact, influence, effect.^[2][1][5]

Related words

• tangō
• tāctiō
• contāgiō
• integer
• English tact

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de