vaccination

Forms

vaccination f (plural vaccinations)^[1]

Etymology

The TLFi analyses it as formed from French vaccine + -ation,^[2] while the Grand Robert, the GLLF, the Petit Robert and the DHLF derive it from the verb vacciner, recorded the same year.^[3][4][5][6] The TLFi compares the English word vaccination, recorded in 1800.^[2]

The base noun, meaning “cowpox” (1749), is a gallicization of the medical New Latin vaccīna, short for variola vaccīna, the feminine of Latin vaccīnus (“of a cow”), a rare derivative of vacca (“cow”), the source of vache.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1801, in the Décade philosophique, for the inoculation of cowpox to protect against smallpox.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word came with the Jennerian method: in 1800 the noun vaccine itself was used for the inoculation, but vaccination replaced it in this sense.^[6] It was soon extended to inoculation against other diseases: against syphilis in 1851, and in Pasteur's work on swine erysipelas in 1883.^[2][4] The Petit Robert dates the general sense, the administration of any vaccine, to 1830.^[5]

A figurative vaccination morale is found in Sainte-Beuve in 1863, the same year as the figurative uses of vaccin and vacciner.^[2][6] The prefixed revaccination followed in 1834 and rétrovaccination in 1932.^[6]

Timeline

• 1800 – English vaccination is recorded.^[2]
• 1801 – Vaccination, vacciner and vaccinateur are first recorded.^[2][6]
• 1834 – Revaccination is first recorded.^[6]
• 1851 – Used of inoculation against syphilis.^[2][4]
• 1863 – Sainte-Beuve writes of a vaccination morale.^[2]
• 1883 – Pasteur publishes on the vaccination of pigs against swine erysipelas.^[2]
• 1932 – Rétrovaccination is first recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The administration of a vaccin to protect against a disease, or to strengthen the body's defences against an existing infection: vaccination contre la grippe, vaccination de rappel, un certificat de vaccination.^[2][5][4]
2. (historical) The inoculation of cowpox to protect against smallpox.^[2][5]
3. (figurative) Protection against something gained through exposure to it.^[2]

Word family

• revaccination

Related words

• vaccin
• vacciner
• vaccine
• vache
• Latin vacca

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert