tongue English · revision 5759

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 890}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tʌŋ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|tunge]], [[inh|ang|tunge|t=tongue; speech, language]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from [[gem-pro|*tungōn]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) which also gave Old Saxon and Old Norse tunga, Dutch tong, German Zunge and Gothic tuggō.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Outside Germanic it is related to Old Latin dingua, [[la|lingua]] (altered under the influence of lingere “to lick”) and Old Irish teng,^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986) from PIE [[ine-pro|*dnghu-|t=tongue]].^(Etymonline) By regular development it would be spelled tung; the ending -gue is a 14th-century attempt to show the pronunciation of the g.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The organ of speech, and speech or language itself: about 890 in the OED; before 899 in Barnhart, in Alfred's translation of Bede.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense of a people's language was already in Old English;^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) the King James Bible's ''gift of tongues'' continues it.^(OED 1989) The tongues of fire seen at Pentecost are referred to by about 1000.^(OED 1989) An animal's tongue as food is from about 1420, and other tongue-shaped objects (of a shoe, a bell, land) from the 16th century.^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986) The verb first meant to scold or reproach (1388), and later to touch or lick with the tongue (1680s).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) To tongue notes on a wind instrument is by 1936.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Putting one's tongue in one's cheek was an 18th-century gesture of contempt and meant speaking insincerely, and ''tongue in cheek'' as an expression is from the mid-20th century.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 890 – the organ of speech; speech.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1000 – the tongues of fire at Pentecost.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1388 – the verb, to scold.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1420 – tongue as food.^(OED 1989)

+ * 16th century – something shaped like a tongue.^(Hoad 1986)

+ * 1680s – to lick.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1936 – to tongue on a wind instrument.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The movable muscular organ in the [[mouth]], used for tasting, swallowing and speaking.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A [[language]] or [[dialect]]: ''her native tongue''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A way of speaking: ''a sharp tongue''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The tongue of an animal, such as an ox, eaten as [[food]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Something long and narrow like a tongue, such as the flap under the laces of a [[shoe]] or a strip of land.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To separate notes on a [[wind instrument]] with the tongue.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # To touch or lick with the tongue.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[tonguelike]]

+ * [[tongueless]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lingual]]

+ * [[language]]

+ * [[lingo]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}