Etymograph

English

quarantine

Quarantine comes from Medieval Latin quarentena ‘40-day period’, from Latin quadrāgintā ‘forty’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷétwr̥dḱomth₂ ‘forty’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷétwr̥dḱomth₂‘forty’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquadrāgintā‘forty’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CE*quaranta‘forty’uncertain
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500quarentena‘40-day period’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500quarentine
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1470quarantine

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷétwr̥dḱomth₂‘forty’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquadrāgintā‘forty’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CE*quaranta‘forty’uncertain
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500quarentena‘40-day period’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500quarentine
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1470quarantine

Earliest quotation: c. 1470, William Wey, The Itineraries: “By yonde ys a wyldernys of quarentyne, Wher Cryst…”

The story

In reference to a severance of political relations, popularized by the Roosevelt administration's 1937 approach to the Axis powers and the later Kennedy administration's 1962 approach to Cuba during the missile crisis.

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *kʷétwr̥dḱomth₂

Today it means

noun A period of 40 days, particularly

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kʷétwr̥dḱomth₂ / quarantine

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