truc French · revision 17395

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=early 13th century, Gautier de Coinci|origins=la trūdō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tʁyk/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''truc''' ''m'' (plural trucs)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''trut'' (13th–14th centuries), ''trucq'' (1442); Agrippa d'Aubigné writes ''truq''.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|pro|truc|t=blow, knock]], a noun formed from [[m|pro|trucar|t=to knock, strike]], from [[la-vul|*trūdicō]], derived from classical [[la|trūdō|t=to push, thrust]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|13/2, 328b)^(Wiktionary) Rey relates the Latin verb to [[cu|трѹдъ|tr=trudŭ|t=toil, care]].^(DHLF 1992) Pierre Guiraud suggested that the word may have passed through “truche” “begging”, the beggar “pushing” at people's doors.^(Grand Robert 2005) Diez had proposed a Germanic source, Littré following him.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Compare [[ca|truc]] and [[it|trucco]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in the early 13th century in Gautier de Coinci's ''Miracles de Notre-Dame'', meaning a clever trick, a ruse.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ After isolated uses (''faire le trucq'' “to coax with flattery”, 1442), the word reappears in the 16th century for a card game in which each card was slapped on the table (1588), and in 1611 for a blow; in 1630 it named a kind of billiards, probably under Italian influence.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ It was taken up again in 1789 for an artful dodge, and soon for the knack of a trade (1803, ''avoir le truc'', 1832).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In the theatre ''truc'' was a stage device for creating an illusion (1847), whence [[truquer]] and ''trucage'', ''débiner le truc'' “to give away the trick” is recorded in 1867.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) From about 1884–1886 it became a word for any thing one cannot or will not name, like ''machin'' and ''bidule''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 13th century – “Ruse”, in Gautier de Coinci.^(TLFi)

+ * 1442 – ''Faire le trucq'', in Martin Le Franc.^(TLFi)

+ * 1588 – A card game.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1789 – A stratagem to deceive.^(TLFi)

+ * 1803 – “Knack, secret of a trade”, in Boiste.^(TLFi)

+ * 1847 – A stage device.^(TLFi)

+ * 1886 – “Thing, thingummy”.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(familiar)'' A [[m|en|trick]], a clever way of doing something: ''les trucs du métier''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # The hidden [[m|en|knack]] of a conjuring trick: ''il y a un truc''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(theatre, cinema)'' A device for creating an [[m|en|illusion]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''(familiar)'' A thing, a [[m|en|thingamajig]]; with a capital, a person whose name one has forgotten: ''j'ai vu Truc''.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar)'' Something one's interested in: ''c'est pas mon truc''.^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[truquer]]

+ * [[truquage]]

+ * [[trucmuche]]

+ * [[intrus]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ A second ''truc'', also spelled ''truck'', is a flat railway wagon, borrowed from English ''truck'' in 1843.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Grand Robert 2005)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}