quarantine (English)

Where does "quarantine" come from?

The English word 'quarantine' descends from the Latin 'quadrāgintā' meaning 'four tens' or '40'[1][4]. This root evolved through Late Latin forms into Italian 'quarantina' and French 'quarantaine'[1][2][3]. The term initially referred to a 40 day period of time[1]. By 1448, the practice in Venice of isolating ships for 40 days to prevent plague outbreaks solidified the medical sense[1]. The word reached English through Middle English 'quarentine' and Norman 'quarenteine'[1]. Beyond its medical usage, it has been applied to various periods of forced isolation or political severance, such as the 1937 Roosevelt administration policy and the 1962 blockade of Cuba[1].

Open questions

• The derivation from the reconstructed Late Latin *quaranta remains a proposed path in the development of the term. [1]
• The etymological composition of the Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ is considered unknown or possibly connected to the word for hand. [10]

Full etymology tree

• quarantine (English), 'A period of 40 days, particularly'
  • inherited quarentine (Middle English)
    • inherited quarenteine (French)
      • inherited quarentena (Medieval Latin)
        • inherited quarantina (Italian), 'approximately forty'
          • compound quaranta (Italian), 'forty'
            • inherited quarranta (Late Latin)
              • inherited quadraginta (Latin), 'forty; 40'
                • inherited *kʷétwr̥dḱomt (Proto-Indo-European), 'forty'
                  • compound *kʷetwr̥- (Proto-Indo-European), 'four, fourfold'
                  • compound *déḱm̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'ten'
          • suffix -ina (Italian), 'inflectional suffix used to form diminutives of feminine nouns'

Ancestors

• quarantina (Italian)
• quadraginta (Latin)
• quarantaine (French)

Descendants and derived words

• community quarantine (English)
• K-Quarantine (English)
• nonquarantine (English)
• prequarantine (English)
• quaranteam (English)
• quaranteam (English)
• quarantinee (English)
• quarantine flag (English)
• quarantini (English)
• quarantinism (English)
• quarantinist (English)
• queerantine (English)

Sources

1. quarantine (English) - Wiktionary
2. quarantaine (French) - Wiktionary
3. quarantina (Italian) - Wiktionary
4. quadraginta (Latin) - Wiktionary
5. quarante (French) - Wiktionary
6. quaranta (Italian) - Wiktionary
7. quarantena (Italian) - Wiktionary
8. kʷétwr̥dḱomt (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary
9. quarante (Old French) - Wiktionary
10. déḱm̥ (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris