contactus Latin · revision 4096
15 Oct 2026, 21:07 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Sallust|origins=la tangō}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [kɔnˈtaːk.tʊs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [konˈtak.tus]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''contāctus''' ''m'' (genitive contāctūs); fourth declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[af|la|contingō|-tus|t1=to touch]], an action noun.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) ''Contingō'' is from [[con-]] and [[tango|alt=tangō]] “to touch”.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The TLL dates it from Sallust and Virgil, and Lewis & Short note that apart from one passage of Sallust it is perhaps not found before Augustus.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Köbler dates Sallust 86–34 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant the act of touching, contact, as Virgil's Harpies fouling everything with their unclean touch and Ovid's clod that becomes a mass at a powerful touch.^(TLL)^(OLD 2012) Columella uses it of a woman's touch, Ovid of blood, and Pliny of sunlight and moonlight.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ Especially it was a touch that contaminates, a contagion, as in Livy of disease and in Tacitus figuratively.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It also meant contact between persons and logical association.^(OLD 2012) Medieval Latin added the senses of an adjoining area, a junction and a clash or dispute.^(MLW)^(DMLBS) English ''contact'' is recorded in the 1620s.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it once.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the Harpies' touch.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of contagion.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1620s – English ''contact'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A touching, [[m|en|touch]], [[m|en|contact]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Contaminating contact, [[m|en|contagion]], [[m|en|infection]].^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Wiktionary)
+ # Contact between persons, association.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' An adjoining area; a clash, dispute.^(MLW)^(DMLBS)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[contāgēs]]
+ * [[contāgiō]]
+ * [[contāgiōsus]]
+ * [[contāgium]]
+ * [[contāmen]]
+ * [[en|contact]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}