Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 14c., "type of facial ulcer, lupus," Latin, literally "touch me not," from noli, imperative of nolle "to be unwilling" + me (see me) + tangere "to touch" (see tangent (adj.)). Used over the years of various persons or things that must not be touched, especially "picture of Jesus as he appeared to Mary Magdalene" (1670s, see John 20:17) and "plant of the genus Impatiens" (1560s, so called because the ripe seed pods burst when touched).
Wikipedia
Noli Me Tángere ( Latin for Touch Me Not) is a novel written by José Rizal, one of the national heroes of the Philippines, during the colonization of the country by Spain to expose the inequities of the Spanish Catholic priests and the ruling government.
Originally written in Spanish, the book is more commonly published and read in the Philippines in either Tagalog or English. Together with its sequel, El Filibusterismo, the reading of Noli is obligatory for high school students throughout the country.
Noli me tangere, meaning "don't touch me" or "don't tread on me", is the Latin version of words spoken, according to John 20:17, by Jesus to Mary Magdalene when she recognized him after his resurrection.
The original Koine Greek phrase, (mē mou haptou), is better represented in translation as "cease holding on to me" or "stop clinging to me".
The biblical scene of Mary Magdalene's recognizing Jesus Christ after his resurrection became the subject of a long, widespread and continuous iconographic tradition in Christian art from Late Antiquity to the present. Pablo Picasso, for example, used the painting Noli me tangere by Antonio da Correggio, stored in the Museo del Prado, as an iconographic source for his famous painting La Vie ( Cleveland Museum of Art) from the so-called Blue Period.
The words were also occasionally used to describe a disease known to medieval physicians as a "hidden cancer" or cancer absconditus, as the more the swellings associated with these cancers were handled, the worse they became.
Noli me tangere is a c. 1514 painting by Titian of the Noli me tangere episode in St John's Gospel. The painting is housed at the National Gallery in London.
Noli Me Tangere is a large sculptural arrangement that forms part of the Alaleona Chapel in the church of Santi Domenico e Sisto, in Rome. The architecutal outline of the chapel was designed by the Italian artist Gianlorenzo Bernini. The sculpture, which shows Jesus responding to Mary Magdalene with the words 'Do not touch me' upon her recognition of him following the Resurrection, was also designed by Bernini and carried out by his pupil Antonio Raggi, probably from 1649 to 1652.
Noli me tangere ("do not touch me") is the Latin version of words spoken by Jesus to Mary Magdalene.
Noli me tangere may also refer to:
- Noli Me Tangere (Bernini), a sculptural arrangement in the church of Santi Domenico e Sisto, in Rome
- Noli me tangere (novel), by José Rizal
- Noli me tangere (Titian), painted circa 1514
- Noli me tangere Casket, a reliquary of the Aachen Cathedral Treasury, now destroyed
Usage examples of "noli me tangere".
The Mephistophelean moustaches and beard were gone, and he was wearing a grease-smeared T-shirt with the motto: NOLI ME TANGERE SIN AMOR.
Upon the unthinkably explosive object they would no doubt paint, Amalfi surmised, had they by that time also composed an anti-material paint and something to keep it in, the warning Noli me tangere.