quarantine English · revision 124
5 Oct 2026, 22:00 by bogdan “Add pronunciation, sense history, timeline, meanings, word family, related words” current version
Changes in this edit
@@ -1,6 +1,39 @@
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ˈkwɒɹ.ən.tiːn/, /ˈkwɒrn̩tiːn/ ''(UK)''; /ˈkwɔɹ.ən.tin/, /ˈkɔɹ.ən.tin/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)
+
==Etymology==
− In the sense “period of isolation for a ship suspected of carrying disease”, recorded from the 1660s,^(Etymonline) [[bor|it|quarantina]],^(AHD)^(RHWU) from Italian ''quaranta giorni'' “space of forty days”,^(Etymonline) [[der|it|quaranta|t=forty]],^(AHD)^(OED 1989) [[der|la|quadrāgintā|t=forty]].^(AHD)^(RHWU) The name comes from the Venetian policy, first enforced in 1377, of holding ships from plague-stricken countries off port for 40 days.^(Etymonline) Merriam-Webster traces the word partly also to [[fr|quarantaine]].^(MW Collegiate)
+ It is [[bor|it|quarantina]],^(AHD)^(RHWU) from Italian ''quaranta giorni'' “space of forty days”,^(Etymonline) [[der|it|quaranta|t=forty]],^(AHD)^(OED 1989) [[der|la|quadrāgintā|t=forty]].^(AHD)^(RHWU) The name comes from the Venetian policy, first enforced in 1377, of holding ships from plague-stricken countries off port for 40 days.^(Etymonline) Merriam-Webster traces the word partly also to [[fr|quarantaine]].^(MW Collegiate) An earlier, separate use goes back to [[la-med|quarentēna]].^(OED 1989)
− An earlier, separate sense goes back to [[la-med|quarentēna]];^(OED 1989) as ''quarentyne'' (15th century) it named the desert in which Christ fasted for forty days.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ As ''quarentyne'' (15th century), the desert in which Christ fasted for forty days.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In law, the period of forty days during which a widow could remain in her late husband's house: from the 1520s according to Etymonline, while the OED's first quotation is from 1609.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The shipping sense, a period of isolation for vessels suspected of carrying disease, is recorded from the 1660s,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and was extended in the 1670s to any period of forced isolation.^(Etymonline) Figuratively the word is used of a political or economic blockade,^(OED 1989)^(AHD)^(Wiktionary) and in computing of isolating a program or file from the rest of a system.^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 15th century – ''quarentyne'', the desert of Christ's forty-day fast.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1520s – a widow's forty days in her late husband's house.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+ * 1663 – a period of isolation for those who might spread disease.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)
+ * 1670s – any period of enforced isolation.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1804 – verb, “to put in quarantine”.^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)
+
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # Enforced isolation of people, animals, or goods that may carry a contagious disease, or the period of it.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # A place where such isolation is enforced.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Any state of enforced isolation, including a political or economic blockade.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ===Verb===
+ # To isolate in quarantine.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)
+ # To isolate politically or economically.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[quarantinable]]
+ * [[quarantiner]]
+ * [[prequarantine]]
+ * [[quarantine flag]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[lazaretto]]
==References==