Quarantaine Defintion
1 Isolement sanitaire de marchandises, d’animaux ou d’êtres humains provenant (originating) d’un pays où il existe un risque de maladie contagieuse.
2 Somme ou nombre de plus ou moins quarante. (about forty)

‘Quarantaine’ is certainly nothing new, its etymology dating back to the 14th century during the Black Death plague, when ships arriving in Venice had to be isolated for 40 days before passengers and crew could go ashore.

In these days of coronavirus however, a new word, ‘une quatorzaine’, has emerged, referring to a period of fourteen days (or less) of quarantine.

Much used in the French media recently, the word isn’t new, but was previously used in the legal world to define a ‘space of fourteen days observed between the various stages of a judicial seizure’.