vaccinus
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Pronunciation
Forms
vaccīnus (feminine vaccīna, neuter vaccīnum); first/second-declension adjective[1]
Etymology
It is from Latin vacca (“cow”) + -īnus.[2][3] Etymonline calls vacca a word of uncertain origin.[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History, speaks of cow's milk, beef and cow's-milk cheese.[5][6] Köbler dates him 23/24–79 AD.[3]
Semantic evolution
It meant of or from a cow, as lac vaccīnum “cow's milk” in Pliny the Elder and Marcellus Empiricus.[2][5][6]
In medieval Latin it was also used of beef and of cow leather, and a writer notes that cow's milk is richer in butter than sheep's.[7] Edward Jenner's variolae vaccīnae “cowpox” gave English vaccination in 1800 and the adjective vaccine in 1798, and the noun English vaccine came in 1846 from French vaccin.[4]
Timeline
- 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of cow's milk.[5][3]
- 1798 – English vaccine “of cows” is recorded.[4]
- 1800 – Jenner's vaccination is recorded.[4]
Meanings
Adjective
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ 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