contagiosus

Forms

contāgiōsus (feminine contāgiōsa, neuter contāgiōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin contāgium (“contact, infection”) + -ōsus.^[2][3] The noun contāgium belongs with tangō (“to touch”), whose present de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *th₂-n-g- (“to touch”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hilary of Poitiers, in the 4th century, uses it figuratively in his commentary on the Psalms, of the defiling dwelling of the soul in the body, its prison.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

From the start it meant full of contagion:^[2] Vegetius and the veterinary Mulomedicina Chironis use it of diseases that spread among animals.^[2][6][3]

In Medieval Latin it was a medical word for contagious diseases such as leprosy,^[7][8] and figuratively it meant harmful, pernicious or defiling.^[8][5]

Timeline

• c. 315–367/368 AD – Hilary of Poitiers uses it figuratively.^[2][5]
• c. 400 AD – Vegetius, in his book on veterinary medicine, speaks of a contagious disease.^[6][3][5]
• 1330 – A Canterbury letter speaks of a contagious disease (morbus contagiosus).^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Contagious, infectious.^{[6][3][9][10]}
2. (figurative) Pernicious, defiling.^[2][8][5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill