Borrowed Words

[mcgillianaire]

According to vingt's Alliance Francaise class, the word quarantine comes from the French word, une quarantaine, meaning 'about forty' - because a quarantine lasted 40 days. :)

Comments

[pappubahry.livejournal.com]

Firstly, the French word is quarantaine. Secondly, the OED suggests that quarantine comes from (presumably old) Italian quarentina or French quaranta (ie, forty, not 'about forty').