contactus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [kɔnˈtaːk.tʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [konˈtak.tus]^[1]

Forms

contāctus m (genitive contāctūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin contingō (“to touch”) + -tus, an action noun.^[2][1][3] Contingō is from con- and tangō “to touch”.^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL dates it from Sallust and Virgil, and Lewis & Short note that apart from one passage of Sallust it is perhaps not found before Augustus.^[3][5] Köbler dates Sallust 86–34 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant the act of touching, contact, as Virgil's Harpies fouling everything with their unclean touch and Ovid's clod that becomes a mass at a powerful touch.^[3][2] Columella uses it of a woman's touch, Ovid of blood, and Pliny of sunlight and moonlight.^[7][5]

Especially it was a touch that contaminates, a contagion, as in Livy of disease and in Tacitus figuratively.^[8][5] It also meant contact between persons and logical association.^[2] Medieval Latin added the senses of an adjoining area, a junction and a clash or dispute.^[9][10] English contact is recorded in the 1620s.^[4]

Timeline

• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it once.^[5][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the Harpies' touch.^[3][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of contagion.^[8][6]
• 1620s – English contact is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A touching, touch, contact.^[2][1]
2. Contaminating contact, contagion, infection.^[8][1]
3. Contact between persons, association.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) An adjoining area; a clash, dispute.^[9][10]

Related words

• contāgēs
• contāgiō
• contāgiōsus
• contāgium
• contāmen
• English contact

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press