Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗To illuminate or provide (a place) with torches (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1). · To intentionally destroy (something) by setting it on fire, especially when committing arson in furtherance of some other criminal act (e.g. insurance fraud or the destruction of evidence). · To make damaging claims about (someone or something); to ruin the reputation of (someone or something); to disparage, to insult. · Of a fire: to burn.
A stick of wood or plant fibres twisted together, with one end soaked in a flammable substance such as resin or tallow and set on fire, which is held in the hand, put into a wall bracket, or stuck into the ground, and used chiefly as a light source. · A similarly shaped implement with a replaceable supply of flammable material; specifically, a pole with a lamp at one end. · Ellipsis of electric torch: synonym of flashlight (“a battery-powered hand-held light source”). · A flower which is red or red-orange in colour like a flame.
The noun is derived from Middle English torch, torche (“large candle; lighted stick; (figurative) sunbeam”), from Old French torche, torque (“torch; bundle of (twisted) straw”) (modern French torche); further etymology uncertain, probably from Vulgar Latin *torca (“coiled object”) (referring to a torch made from twisted plant fibres dipped in a flammable substance such as pitch), from Latin torqua, a variant of torquis (“collar of twisted metal, torque; wreath”), from torqueō (“to twist, wind”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to spin; to turn”). Etymology 1 sense 2.3 (Verbascum thapsus) is either due to the plant’s spike of yellow flowers, or because its leaves and stalks were used to make torches (noun etymology 1 sense 1). Etymology 1 sense 3.2 (“precious cause, etc., which needs to be protected and transmitted to others”) is derived from Latin lampada trādere, from Ancient Greek λᾰμπᾰ́δᾰ πᾰρᾰδιδόναι (lămpắdă părădidónai, “to hand over the torch”), a reference to the torch race held at various festivals such as the Panathenaic Games in Ancient Greece, which involved a relay where a torch was passed from one runner to another. The verb is derived from the noun.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Root classification mention*terkʷ-ine-pro
- Inherited-form mentiontorchenm
- Derivation mentiontorchefro
- Cognate mentiontorchefr
- Derivation mentiontorquala
- Derivation mention*terkʷ-ine-pro · to spin; to turn
- Cognate mentionlampada trāderela
- Cognate mentionλᾰμπᾰ́δᾰ πᾰρᾰδιδόναιgrc · to hand over the torch
This page abbreviates 11 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
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"To make damaging claims about (someone or something); to ruin the reputation of (someone or something); to disparage, to insult.",
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