Re: Latin question: "titillandus"

At 8:23 am +0100 7/3/02, Christophe Grandsire wrote:
>En réponse à Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...>:
>
>>
>> >The problem is that I don't know of any Latin verb *titillare.
>>
>> No need for the asterisk.  The verb is well enough attested in
>> Classical
>> Latin, being used even by Cicero himself!  It means "to tickle" or "to
>> amuse"; hence the English "to titillate".
>>
>
>So the French verb "titiller" comes directly from Latin!
Yep - and not via Vulgar Latin.  As you say, directly from the classical
language (otherwise that second /t/ would have gone long ago /t/ >> /d/ >>
/D/ >> zero, as in père << patre(m)).  It is obviously just like the
English 'titillate', a later, learned borrowing.

The English word BTW is rarely - if ever, nowadays - used litterally of
'tickling', but - just as the Latin could be - metaphorically of something
arousing or 'tickling' one's desires.

Indeed, until your recent emails I had known only 'chatouiller' (to tickle)
in French.  It's the only word my grandsons use; I've never heard them use
'titiller'.

>Strange, I thought it
>was more an argot formation...
Nope - strictly learned  :)

>>
>> Not only in verse - 'twas not uncommon in prose of the "Silver Latin"
>> (i.e.
>> post-Augustan) period.
>>
>
>I never studied that unfortunately :(( . In class we only studied texts of the
>end of the Republic or beginning of the Augustan period...
You should try Tacitus sometime - a bit hard going at first, and very
different from Cicero or Livy.

[snip]
>>
>> But maybe your language has an equivalent phrase to:
>> Let sleeping dogs lie
>> Draco dormiens numquam titillandus
>> Na deffro'r ci a fo'n cysgu
>>
>> What's the equivalent proverb in French? (There must be one, I guess).
>
>I wish I remembered. I'm wondering if we don't use the lion in French... :))
>Not that there are many lions in France (though, between the zoos,
>reserves and
>circusses, we must have a few :)) ), but that's the archetype of the wild
>animal in France :) .
According to Harrap's English-French/ French-English dictionary, it's:
"ne réveillez pas le chat qui dort"

...which sounds a bit feeble, unless French cats are particularly fierce  ;)

Ray.

=========================================
A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
                     [J.G. Hamann 1760]
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