touch

  • Original language: English
  • Original form and meaning: n. 4a 'a musician's manner of playing keys or strings', 4c 'an artist's or writer's style of workmanship, writing, etc.', 5a 'a distinguishing quality or trait, style, a characteristic feature', 5b 'a special skill or proficiency', 10 'the part of the field outside the side limits' (football)


(Note: If the status is not specifically indicated then the word is stylistically neutral and generally used; if earlier meaning and status equals current use the former may be expressed by writing "dito". Cf. also the project guidelines.)


Language Form Date of Borrowing (and Obsolescence) Current Meaning and Status Earlier Meanings and Statusses Source
Catalan ... ... '...' '...' ...
Croatian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Czech ... ... '...' '...' ...
Danish ... ... '...' '...' ...
Dutch touch [= English] 1970s 5a,10, status: restricted use: modern, obsolete dito ...
English ... ... '...' '...' ...
Estonian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Finnish ... ... '...' '...' ...
French ... ... 5a, status: word is known mainly to bilinguals and felt to be English '...' ...
Frisian ... ... '...' '...' ...
German taccs < partvonal [tat∫] 19c 10, status: not (or no longer) recognized as English dito ...
Hungarian touch [tat∫] 1960s 5a, status: restricted use: journalese, modern dito ...
Irish ... ... '...' '...' ...
Italian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Latvian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Lithuanian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Maltese ... ... '...' '...' ...
Norwegian touch [tøt∫] 5a, status: fully accepted, but still marked as English dito ...
Polish ... ... '...' '...' ...
Portuguese ... ... '...' '...' ...
Rumantsch ... ... '...' '...' ...
Slovak ... ... '...' '...' ...
Slovenian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Spanish ... ... 5a, status: word is known mainly to bilinguals and felt to be English '...' ...
Swedish ... ... '...' '...' ...
  • Annotations: * DEA = Dictionary of European Anglicisms by Manfred Görlach (2001), Oxford: OUP.; ** CODEE = The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology by T.F. Hoad (1986), Oxford: Clarendon.
  • Information on Other Languages: Icelandic: touch [= English], 1970s, meaning: 4a,4c,5b, status: restricted use: slang; Romanian: < tusa, status: word comes from other source than English: French; Bulgarian: tuch, beg20c, meaning: 10, status: fully accepted, but still marked as English (technical); Greek: tats, end20c, meaning: 5a, status: restricted use: modern, journalese, colloquial;,