Venice, in the Middle Ages

feared infection from the boats

that visited its harboured stages,

ordering sailors to “stay afloat!”

For forty days they had to anchor.

NOT set foot on Venice land,

to make sure none were sick and rank

or had bubonic plague at hand.

Quaranta giorni (Kwa-rant-a jee-or-nee)

Quaranta giorni (Kwa-rant-a jee-or-nee)

is “Forty Days” in Italian.

That’s where the word for isolation

known as QUARANTINE began.

https://www.dictionary.com/e/quarantine-vs-isolation/

What does quarantine mean?

In general, a quarantine is “a strict isolation imposed to prevent the spread of disease.” We know what you might be thinking: so, a quarantine is … just an isolation? Not exactly.

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains, the practice of a quarantine specifically involves:

… the separation of a person or group of people reasonably believed to have been exposed to a communicable disease but not yet symptomatic, from others who have not been so exposed, to prevent the possible spread of the communicable disease.

The takeaway: People are put in quarantine when they are not currently sick, but have been or may have been exposed to a communicable disease. This can help stop the spread of the disease.

Voluntary quarantine (when someone isn’t ordered to go into quarantine but chooses to do so just out of caution) is often called self-quarantine.

Entering English in the early 1600s, this “isolation” sense of quarantine comes from the Italian quarantina, a period of forty days, derived from quaranta, the Italian for “forty.” (The Italian quaranta, if you’re curious, comes from the Latin quadrāgintā, also meaning “forty.”)

What’s so special about 40? Historically, a quarantine referred to a period—originally of 40 days—imposed upon ships when suspected of carrying an infectious or contagious disease. This practice was done in Venice in the 1300s in an effort to stave off the plague.