noli me tangere
nounEtymology
PIE word *né From Middle English noli me tangere, noly me tangere (“skin disease of the face; bad-tempered person who should be avoided; personification of wrath”), a learned borrowing from Late Latin nōlī mē tangere (literally “do not touch me”), from Latin nōlī (“do not”) + mē (“me, myself”) + tangere (the present active infinitive of tangō (“to grasp; to touch”)). The phrase is recorded in John 20:17 of the Vulgate, a 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible, as having been spoken to Mary Magdalene by Jesus shortly after his resurrection outside his tomb. The original phrase was the Koine Greek μή μου ἅπτου (mḗ mou háptou, “stop clinging to me”). Senses 2–5 refer to the literal meaning of the phrase. For example, in the case of sense 4 (“any of various plants with fruits or seed capsules that, when ripe, burst open and discharge their seeds when touched, or with leaves that fold and droop when touched”), the name alludes to the assumption that the plants do not wish to be touched, and react by exploding their fruits or closing their leaves if this happens.
- learned borrowing from nōlī mē tangere
Definitions
A picture depicting Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene shortly after his resurrection from…
A picture depicting Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene shortly after his resurrection from the dead (see the etymology).
- In a compartment over the communion-table is an estimable picture; a noli me tangere, by [Anton Raphael] Mengs, who painted it at Rome, and parted with it to the college for three hundred guineas.
A warning to avoid or not to interfere.
- The Porcupine is a ſmall thing not much unlike a Hedgehog; ſomething bigger, vvho ſtands upon his guard and proclaimes a Noli me tangere, to man and beaſt, that ſhall approach too neare him, darting his quills into their legges, and hides.
- These difficulties, that are in Scripture, which indeed are not a few,—are not a ‘noli me tangere,’ to drive us from the study of the Scriptures, as the inference would be made,—but they are of another kind of aim and tendency.
Someone (such as a disagreeable person) or something (such as a painful experience or…
Someone (such as a disagreeable person) or something (such as a painful experience or taboo topic) to be avoided or not interfered with.
- Religion was only the Pretence;—but Monopoly the Noli me tangere, and the real Cauſe of the Clamours.—[…]
- Publish'd he would have them (according to the erratas of his life) in folio: but so indigested are his collections, and so illaborate his style, as the stationer shunnes them, like a noli me tangere, fearing their sale.
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Any of various plants with fruits or seed capsules that, when ripe, burst open and…
Any of various plants with fruits or seed capsules that, when ripe, burst open and discharge their seeds when touched, or with leaves that fold and droop when touched.
- There is another plant vvhich hath beene account of ſome to be a kinde of blacke Hellebor, vvhoſe figure vve haue ſet foorth for one of the Arſmarts, called of ſome Impatiens Herba, and others Noli me tangere, […]
- Novv ſow the vvild ſpirting Cucumber, and the Noli me tangere in the natural Ground; they are diverting Plants vvhen their Fruit is full ripe.
Any of various diseases causing ulcers of the skin and underlying tissues, especially of…
Any of various diseases causing ulcers of the skin and underlying tissues, especially of the face; many of these diseases are now thought to be due to basal cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma.
- After the ſame manner Ariſtolochia together with Cyperus, healeth the ſtinking and illfavored ulcer of the noſe, called Noli-me-tangere.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for noli me tangere. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA