tactus Latin · revision 31437

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=96–55 BC, Lucretius|origins=ine-pro *teh₂g-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''tāctus''' ''m'' (genitive tāctūs); fourth declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[m|la|tangō|t=to touch]] with the suffix [[m|la|-tus]] of action nouns.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces the verb to [[itc-pro|*tang-]] and the nasal present [[ine-pro|*th₂-n-g-|t=to touch]], cognate with [[grc|τεταγών|tr=tetagṓn|t=having seized]] and [[got|𐍄𐌴𐌺𐌰𐌽|tr=tekan|t=to touch]]; the long vowel of ⟨tāct-⟩ is due to Lachmann's Law.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Lucretius,^(de Vaan 2008) who speaks of stone worn by the touch of people greeting and passing by.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==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.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) 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!”.^(OLD 2012) Figuratively it is contact or influence, as Cicero's feeling that his speech takes on colour from contact with the Greek writers.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Church Latin also glosses it “handling, operation, influence, effect” and “blemish”.^(Stelten 1995) English ''tact'' is from it, first in the 1650s as “sense of touch”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of stone worn by touch.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of touch beside smell and taste, and of influence.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of tactile qualities.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1650s – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|tact]], “sense of touch”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|touch|alt=Touch]], physical contact, handling.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The sense of touch;^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) ''(plural)'' [[m|en|tactile]] qualities.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Contact, [[m|en|influence]], effect.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tangō]]

+ * [[tāctiō]]

+ * [[contāgiō]]

+ * [[integer]]

+ * [[en|tact]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}