contact French · revision 16747

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1586, Suau|origins=la tangō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kɔ̃.takt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''contact''' ''m'' (plural contacts)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|contāctus|t=touch; contagion]], from the past participle of [[m|la|contingō|t=to touch]], formed with [[m|la|cum]] on [[m|la|tangō|t=to touch]] (see [[tact]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|13/1, 30a)^(Wiktionary) In Latin it meant both touch in general and infectious contact, like [[m|la|contāgiō]], from the same verb, French only took the general sense.^(DHLF 1992) Two specialized uses come from English: the electrical sense, and the contact lens (about 1950, a calque of [[en|contact lens|alt=contact lenses]]).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Compare [[it|contatto]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found in 1586 in Suau's treatise on plague and whooping cough, Cotgrave (1611) records it for the touching of two or more bodies.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ For a long time the word was learned, competing with the noun ''toucher'': ''point de contact'' in geometry (1753–54), and terms of geology, chemistry and photography.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005) The figurative sense, relations between people or peoples, appears in Bonald (1802: ''contact des mœurs étrangères''), probably after English, and spread in the 20th century with ''en contact avec'', ''au contact de'', ''prendre contact'', some first used in the army.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In the 1960s–70s, under the influence of the verb [[contacter]] (proposed in 1842), ''un contact'' became a person one is in touch with.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1586 – Suau.^(TLFi)

+ * 1611 – “Touching of two bodies”, Cotgrave.^(TLFi)

+ * 1754 – ''Point de contact''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1802 – Figurative use, Bonald.^(TLFi)

+ * 1842 – ''Contacter'' proposed by Richard de Radonvilliers.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1950 – ''Lentilles de contact''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|contact]], touch: ''entrer en contact avec'', ''au contact de l'air'', ''point de contact''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(electricity)'' A connection, ''(automobiles)'' the ignition: ''mettre le contact'', ''clé de contact''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # Relations, connection: ''prendre contact avec quelqu'un'', ''garder le contact'', ''avoir le contact facile''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A contact, a person one knows or can call on.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Lentilles, verres de contact'': [[m|en|contact lens|alt=contact lenses]].^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[contacter]]

+ * [[contacteur]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tact]]

+ * [[contagion]]

+ * [[contingent]]

+ * [[tangible]]

+ * [[la|contāctus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}