noli-me-tangere: Definition from Answers.com

This article is about the Latin phrase. For the novel by Jose Rizal, see Noli Me Tangere (novel). For the movie, see Out 1.

Noli me Tangere by Hans Holbein the Younger

Noli me tangere, meaning "don't touch me", is the Latin version of words spoken, according to John 20:17, by Jesus to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection.

The words were a popular trope in Gregorian chant, and the moment in which they were spoken was a popular subject for paintings, in cycles of the Life of Christ and as single subjects, for which the phrase is the usual title.

It has been pointed out that the original phrase, Μή μου ἅπτου, in the Gospel of John, which was written in Greek, is better represented in translation as cease holding on to me or stop clinging to me.^[1] The biblical scene of Mary Magdalene recognizing Jesus Christ after his resurrection became subject of a long, widespread and continuous iconographic tradition in Christian art from late antiquity onwards until the 20th century.^[2]

Other uses

Noli-me-tangere is a historical term for facial ulceration.
The plants known as touch me not are also sometimes called noli-me-tangere.
Noli Me Tangere is the title of a novel written by Filipino writer and national hero José Rizal in the 19th century.
Sir Thomas Wyatt mentions this phrase in one of his sonnets, 'Whoso list to hunt', which is thought to be about Anne Boleyn, though the reference here is thought to be to the motto "Noli me tangere, quia Cæsaris sum" (i.e. "Do not touch me, for I am Caesar's"), supposedly inscribed on the collars of Caesar's deer.
Pablo Picasso used a painting by Correggio titled Noli me tangere as a source for the enigmatic gesture in the centre of his famous painting La Vie.^[3] Picasso must have seen Correggio's painting in the Prado when he was studying art in Madrid.
"Noli Me Tangere" is the motto of various military units, including US 3rd Infantry Regiment, the United States' oldest active infantry regiment and the US Army second battalion, second infantry regiment, as well as the 321st Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, part of the 82D Airborne Division. Amongst the British Armed Forces, it is the motto of No. 103 Squadron Royal Air Force.
Noli me Tangere is the Motto of the Tobin Family and the Wormald Family of Yorkshire.
The phrase is used in an episode of The X-files, "Hollywood A.D.," featuring a legendary Lazarus Bowl which was able to raise the dead.
Is the title of the last track of Wim Mertens's 1986 album "A man of no fortune, and with a name to come".
The phrase is written on a civil war era flag used by the state of Alabama.

References

^ See, for instance, "Touch Me Not" by Gary F. Zeolla or Greek Verbs. In fact the form of the verb used is not the aorist imperative, which would indicate momentary or point action, but the present, which indicates an action in progress (Lesson Five - Greek Verbs). When, later in the same chapter, Jesus invites Thomas to touch his side, the aorist imperative is used to indicate the proposed momentary action (John 20:27). See also The Elements of New Testament Greek by Jeremy Duff: 7.2.2. The difference between the Present and Aorist Imperatives.
^ See G. Schiller, Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst, vol. 3, Die Auferstehung und Erhöhung Christi, Gütersloh 2 1986 (ISBN 3-579-04137-1), p. 95-98, pl. 275-297; Art. Noli me tangere, in: Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie, vol. 3 Allgemeine Ikonographie L-R, Rom Freiburg Basel Wien 1971 (ISBN 3-451-22568-9), col. 332-336.
^ G. Becht-Jördens & P. M. Wehmeier, Picasso und die christliche Ikonographie. Mutterbeziehung und künstlerische Position, Berlin 2003 (ISBN 3-496-01272-2), p. 40 ff.; pl. 1-4.

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noli-me-tangere

Other uses

References

See also