Etymologically
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contactus

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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]

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