Origin of the phrase "to have no truck with"

Question

This phrase "to have no truck with" has bothered me ever since I stumbled upon it, the reason being it makes no logical sense whatsoever even remotely if you go by the lexical meaning of the words in English.

For the benefit of those who aren't aware, this phrase means to have nothing to do with [sthg].

The most popular usage of this phrase is probably in Pablo Neruda's poem Keeping Quiet (read full poem here):

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.

I had always wondered if it had foreign origins, but I never found any definitive confirmation online. Now that I am learning French, I found a striking resemblance between this phrase and how the French word "truc" is used.

Truc, in French, is a colloquialism meaning "thing" or "stuff", often used to replace something trivial. It surprises me how this word perfectly complements the meaning of the phrase in question.

This word, as with our English phrase, has negative connotations as well. For example, "On raconte des trucs sur lui," which means, they say some nasty stuff about her.

Owing to the lexical similarity of this word with the phrase, as well as the semantic similarity (to a degree), I draw the theory that this is where the phrase originated.

Is it possible for someone to verify the validity of my hypothesis?

Answer 1

Lexico gives two definitions for truck. The first is the wheeled vehicle. The other, which "have no truck with" is listed under is a noun/verb pair that means "barter" (with some other related definitions). Therefore, "have no truck with" can be paraphrased as "have no dealings with". Lexico gives this etymology:

Middle English (as a verb): probably [from] Old French, of unknown origin; compare with medieval Latin trocare.

Cross referencing, I found truken (verb) in the MED (defined as "barter"). Its etymology there is given more solidly as:

OF troquier, trochier & ML trocāre; for forms in -u- cp. AF truck barter.

This connection with trochier is shown in the first example, which is spelled with ch:

Men beoð wode þe trochið [Cleo: trochieð] swa uuele. — Ancrene Wisse, c1230(?a1200)

This means there is indeed a connection with French, but not a connection with truc ("thingamajig"), as Wiktionary gives the etymology for that as:

derived from Vulgar Latin *trūdicō, from trūdō.

(I'm not sure the timeframe for this, unfortunately.)

The noun form of truck appears in Early Modern English, and not just in negative contexts. A search of EEBO, which is Early Modern English (EME), gives some examples:

• A Letter wrote to Mr. Edward Billinge (1681)

  ...being now supplyed by the English, in the way of Truck and Trade, with whatsoever they want or stand need of.

• An account of several late voyages & discoveries to the south and north towards the Streights of Magellan (1694)

  ...so that they indeavoured to begin a Truck or Merchandize with the Yacht...

  The Natives here are so well stored with it, that they have sufficient both for truck and their own use.

• Advice to a painter (1692)

  To Trade for Laurels, Truck for Victory.

(There are also a few results for Lexico's first sense of truck — in this case defined as "a wooden disk at the top of a ship's mast or flagstaff" — such as in Six dialogues about sea-services.)

Moving out of EME, there are still more examples to be had:

• A General Treatise Of Naval Trade And Commerce (1739)

  If any Master of any Ship or Vessel or other Person, shall any ways Trade with Pirates by Truck, Barter, Exchange, or in any other Manner; or shall furnish any Pirate, Felon, or Robber on the Seas...

• The Potato Truck System of Ireland (1847)

  But I beg the question, England has abolished the truck system, and given to her labourer the right of the lord, to be paid in money

• A Glossary of the Lancashire Dialect (has examples from 1866-1881)

Answer 2

Have no truck with:

“Truck” came from the French word (troc) for “barter.” Originally, if you had no truck with somebody, you refused to trade with him or her. By extension it came to mean you refused to have anything to do with the person.

(Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price)

This 'truck' is the early French word 'troque', which meant 'an exchange; a barter' and came into Middle English as 'truke'. The first known record of truke is the Vintner's Company Charter in the Anglo-Norman text of the Patent Roll of Edward III, 1364. This relates to a transaction for some wine which was to be done 'by truke, or by exchange'.

'Truck' is now usually only heard in the negative and this usage began in the 19th century. To 'have no truck with' came to be a general term for 'have nothing to do with'. An example of that is cited in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1834:

• Theoretically an officer should have no truck with thieves.

(The Phrase Finder)

Answer 3

Just been to the Scalloway museum in Shetland and pre World War 2 the women that made Shetland knitware and lace would ‘sell’ their good to local merchants. However the merchant would not only determine the value of the goods, but rather than giving cash they would give ‘fancy’ goods such as ribbons and clothes rather than useful basics such as flour, salt, sugar etc. This practice was known as “truck”. All changed during the war when service people on Shetland would pay cash for the goods to send home. The merchants were forced to stop the practice of truck. Perhaps this has something to do with the term ‘have no truck with’?