infectar

Forms

infectar (first-person singular present infecto, first-person singular preterite infecté, past participle infectado)^[1]

Etymology

Corominas and the Academy's 2001 dictionary consider it borrowed from Latin īnfectāre (“to taint”), which Corominas calls the frequentative of īnficiō.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The current DLE instead derives it from French infecter, from the adjective infect (“infected”), and compares the Latin verb only in its sense “to disturb”.^[6] Corominas's first record is of 1601; before that Spanish used inficionar, which the Breve diccionario dates to about 1450.^[2][3]

The adjective infecto is from īnfectus, the past participle of that verb.^[2] That verb meant first “to dip in dye”, and then “to taint, poison, corrupt”.^[7][6] It is formed from in- (“in”) and faciō (“to do, make”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as to stain or taint something.^[8] Terreros adds the sense “to pass on a disease or plague”, and a figurative use for error and false doctrine.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From 1843 the Academy simply referred it to inficionar, in both the physical and the moral sense.^[10][11] In 1884 it explained the verb as formed from infecto.^[12] In the Americas a 1806 text from Uruguay speaks of vagrants and thieves who infectan the countryside.^[13] The modern definitions are medical: of a virus or bacterium, to invade a living being and multiply in it.^[6][14]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – the older verb inficionar is recorded.^[3]
• 1601 – Corominas's first record of infectar.^[2][3]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as to stain or taint.^[8]
• 1806 – used figuratively in Uruguay.^[13]
• 1843 – the Academy refers it to inficionar.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from infecto.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) Of a virus or bacterium: to invade a living being and multiply in it; to infect.^[6][1]
2. (transitive, also reflexive) To corrupt with bad doctrines or examples.^[6][5]
3. (reflexive) Of a living being or a wound: to become infected: se le infectó la rodilla.^[6][5]

Word family

• desinfectar

Related words

• infecto
• infección
• inficionar
• infeccioso
• Latin īnficiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 64
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. infecto
4. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. infectar
5. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. infectar
6. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. infectar
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. inficiō
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. infectar
9. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 345
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 407
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 432
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 595
13. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. infectar
14. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. infectar