putrefactio

Forms

putrefactiō f (genitive putrefactiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin putrefaciō (“to make rotten”) + -tiō.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Augustine (354–430) is the first to use it, figuratively, in a letter: of wounds, that is injuries, so far gone in rotting that the pain itself has been lost.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Caelius Aurelianus uses it of the rotting of the gums, which gives the sick a foul breath, and it appears in the Latin translation of Oribasius.^[3][4] Cassiodorus, commenting on the Psalms, equates corruptio with the putrefaction that wastes all human flesh.^[3]

Medieval British Latin used it for the decay of animal and vegetable matter, for the rotting held to take part in generation, in medicine for mortification or necrosis, for the corruption of air and of wine in the cask, and figuratively.^[6] Italian putrefazione comes from the Late Latin word,^[7] and English took putrefaction about 1400 through French.^[8]

Timeline

• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it figuratively of festering wounds.^[3][5]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of the rotting of the gums.^[3][5]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus equates it with the corruption of the flesh.^[3][4][5]
• c. 1400 – English borrows it, through French, as putrefaction.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rotting, putrefaction, decay.^[9][3][4]
2. (Medieval Latin, medicine) Mortification, necrosis.^[6]

Related words

• English putrefaction

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press