Word Wonder -- touch

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

1. To place the hand, finger, etc., in contact with.  14. To affect the emotions of; move, especially to pity, gratitude, sympathy, etc.  -- Funk & Wagnalls Canadian College Dictionary

The word "touch" comes from the late 13th century French word touchier which meant "to touch, hit or knock." The French touchier came from the Latin word toccare, meaning "to knock or strike," as in to strike a bell or other object to create a sound. "Toccare," in turn, probably came from ancient imitative sounds (as many words do -- hush, buzz, clink). Imagine the sound made from striking a hollow wooden tube or wooden blocks: toc toc toc...

So, touching an object to get a sound became toccare, which became touchier, which became touch. And then it's only through the wonders of human communication and time that the current 106 related meanings (that I could find) came into use in English. Here are a few of them:

• get in touch -- make contact with someone
• soft touch -- a person who is easily manipulated. This term is first recorded in 1940.
• touch -- to stir emotionally. First used in the mid-1300s.
• touch -- to feel with the hand or other body part, from the late 1200s
• touche -- an exclamation that comes from fencing, 1904. Has also come into general use to mean someone scored an emotional or intellectual point.
• touched -- stirred emotionally, since the mid-1300s
• touching -- affecting the emotions, from 1601
• touch off -- usually means to set off an argument or sensitive feelings
• touchy -- too sensitive, from 1605. This is probably an alternate form of "tetchy," which means the same thing.

Touch -- a plethora of meanings, most of which have something to do with human relationships and endeavours. We are all connected, or we distance ourselves, through touch.

Touch

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Yesterday I heard part of a radio program on the theme of "touch." The host interviewed guests about the importance of touch in their personal lives, careers, and so on. It got me thinking of moments of physical touch that have, well, touched me. Many of them have to do with my children -- holding hands with them, feeling a small hand on my cheek. I always felt a little guilty when I'd hold them when they had a temperature because I loved the heat their small bodies radiated.

Another memorable touch was the first time I kissed a boy. I was fourteen. We'd been patients together in a hospital, me for eye surgery, him for something I've long since forgotten. He was being discharged, and I was pretty sad to see him go. I rode down in the elevator with him (I can't think where his parents were), and he kissed me just before the doors opened. Wow.

This idea of touch has "touched off" many thoughts and ideas, so I imagine I'll be writing about it again. In the meantime, slow your life down a bit and muse about touches you remember...even from five minutes ago. Be present in your body as you meander through the past. It can be a lovely journey.