contaminatus

Forms

contāminātus (feminine contāmināta, neuter contāminātum, superlative contāminātissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin contāminō (“to pollute, spoil”).^[1] De Vaan traces the verb back to Proto-Italic *tag(s)men (“contact”) and Proto-Indo-European *th₂g-men-: its first meaning was “to come into contact with”, and it was probably based on a noun meaning “contact”.^[2] Because contāminātus served as the opposite of integer, the verb was linked with the root of tangō (“to touch”) already by the Romans.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it in the Verrines of a man he calls morally foul, together with “scarcely free” and “depraved”.^[1][3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it meant morally foul or guilt-stained, or ritually unclean and profane.^[1] It could also mean soiled by use, “second-hand”, and in that sense the neuter served as a noun.^[1]

Köbler records it again in the letters of Peter Damian in the 11th century.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of moral foulness and of things soiled by use.^[1][3]
• 11th century – It appears in the letters of Peter Damian.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Morally foul, guilt-stained, vile; ritually unclean, profane.^[1]
2. Soiled by use, second-hand;^[1] (neuter as a noun) something soiled.^[1]

Word family

• incontāminātus

Usage notes

Cicero sets it against integer in the Topica: integra contāminātīs, “the untouched to the soiled”.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ 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
2. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de