contagio

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [kɔnˈtaː.ɡi.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [konˈtaː.d͡ʒi.o]^[1]

Forms

contāgiō f (genitive contāgiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is related to tangō “to touch” and contingō, with the suffix -iō.^[1][2] The OLD analyses it as the stem of contāgēs with -iō.^[3] Wiktionary says the origin of the long /aː/ is unknown.^[1] Beside it there are contāgium, used in poetry and post-Augustan prose, and the Late Latin contāmen.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato the Elder uses it in a prayer formula in his work on agriculture.^[3][4] Köbler names Ennius as its first source and dates Cato 234–149 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a touching or contact, especially one that affects what is touched, as Cicero's soul warmed by contact with the lungs and the mind withdrawn in sleep from contact with the body.^[3][4][6] Cicero also uses it, translating Greek sympatheia, of a sympathetic influence linking natural events.^[3]

Very often it was contact with something physically or morally unclean, infection, as in Ennius' line “do not come near me, lest my contagion harm good men”, of sheep infected in Columella, and in Livy of madness spreading like a plague.^[4][3] Figuratively it meant a corrupting influence or companionship.^[4][5] Medieval Latin used it of contagion, plague, defects and defilement.^[7][5] English contagion came from Old French and Latin in the late 14th century.^[8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato the Elder uses it of contact.^[3][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of a man's contagion.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of contact and of natural sympathy.^[3][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of infected sheep.^[4][5]
• late 14th century – English contagion is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Touch, contact, (figurative) association, influence.^[3][1]
2. contagion, infection.^[3][1]
3. A corrupting influence.^[4][1]
4. A sympathetic influence linking natural events.^[3]
5. (Medieval Latin) A plague; defilement.^[7]

Related words

• contactus
• English contagion

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com