infectio

Forms

īnfectiō f (genitive īnfectiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin īnficiō (“to dye, stain, taint”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Calcidius, in his translation of Plato's Timaeus, of the dull ground colour laid under the bright colours of a painting.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it was the act of dyeing: Ambrose uses it of dyeing wool purple, the Theodosian Code of the dyeing trade, and Marcellus and Theodorus Priscianus of dyeing the hair.^[2][5] Calcidius also has it for the darkening of the face by the sun.^[2][5] Caelius Aurelianus and Gregory the Great used it of disease and of a harmful humour,^[2] and in Christian writers it became moral contamination: Julian of Eclanum speaks of the infectio of the Manichaeans, and Gregory of the taint of heresy.^[2]

Medieval Latin used it for the adulteration of bread and, in medicine, for infection, poisoning and the corruption of the air in times of plague;^[6][7][8] in alchemy it was the changing of metals, and in theology the taint of original sin.^[7] English took it over in the late 14th century, through Old French and directly from Late Latin.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 300 AD – Calcidius uses it of a ground colour in painting.^[2][4]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it of dyeing purple.^[2][5][4]
• 798 – Alcuin uses it of adulterating the bread of the Eucharist.^[6]
• 1267 – A Basel charter speaks of the infectio of the air causing disease.^[7]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as infection.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) dyeing, a dye; colouring.^[2][9][5]
2. (Late Latin) A disease or taint in the body.^[2]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Contamination, pollution (of heresy, sin).^[2][6]
4. (Medieval Latin) Infection, poisoning; corruption of the air.^[6][7][8]
5. (Medieval Latin, alchemy) The transmutation of a metal.^[7]

Related words

• English infection

Usage notes

Lewis & Short list a second infectio, “not doing”, from infectus¹ “undone”, in a panegyric;^[9] the TLL treats that reading as a corruption.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d 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
7. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press