Mot del dia (viii) — tocsin

Atenció a 'tocsin', que no 'toxin'!

Let us not deceive ourselves on this. As in the 18th century, the American war of independence sounded the tocsin for the European middle-class, so in the 19th century, the Americal Civil War sounded it for the European working-class.

—Karl Marx, Capital

(preface to the First German Edition,

tr. Samuel Moore & Edward Aveling)

tocsin, n.¹

[< French tocsin, in Old French toquassen, toquesin, -sain, -saint, etc.; < Provençal tocasenh , < toca-r (French touche-r) to Touch v., strike + senh 'signe, marque, appel de la cloche, cloche' < Lating signum, sign, in later Latin also a bell; 'campana, nola, Italis Segno']

1. a. A signal, esp. an alarm-signal, sounded by ringing a bell or bells: used orig. and esp. in reference to France.

[...]

De Laumelle

 [¹ tocsin: entrada al OED]