contagieux

Forms

contagieux (feminine contagieuse, masculine plural contagieux, feminine plural contagieuses)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin contāgiōsus (“contagious”),^[2][3][1] which already had a medical sense in Latin.^[4] The Latin adjective is formed on contāgiō (“contact, contagion”), the source of contagion.^[5][3][6]

Cognate with Old Occitan contagios, Spanish contagioso and Italian contagioso.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears about 1300 in Macé's Bible, of a disease (maladie ... contagieuse) that spreads by contact.^[2][5] Bercheure uses it in the same way in the 14th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Applied first to diseases and to what carries them (an air contagieux), it was said of a sick person who can pass on an illness from 1539.^[2][3] The figurative sense “that spreads easily from one person to another” is in La Rochefoucauld's maxim Rien n'est si contagieux que l'exemple (1665).^[2][4] Littré notes that maladies contagieuses was also used, in a narrow sense, of syphilitic diseases.^[6] The adverb contagieusement (16th century, early 17th in the DHLF) was rare and came back in the 20th century.^[2][4]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – Macé's Bible speaks of a contagious disease.^[2]
• 1539 – It is said of a sick person.^[2]
• 1665 – La Rochefoucauld uses it figuratively of example.^[2][4]
• 16th century – First record of the adverb contagieusement.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a disease: passed on by contagion; also of what carries it, such as a virus.^[7][2]
2. Of a person: having a disease that can be passed on to others; also as a noun, un contagieux.^[7][2]
3. (figurative) Spreading easily from one person to another, as laughter or a mood does, infectious: sa joie était contagieuse.^[7][3]

Word family

• contagieusement

Related words

• contagion
• contagiosité
• Latin contāgiō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert