cordon sanitaire

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from French cordon sanitaire.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌkɔːdɒn sanɪˈtɛː/

Noun

cordon sanitaire (plural cordons sanitaires)

1. (public health) A barrier (physical or administrative) to prevent the spread of disease.
   • 1879, Sir Spencer Walpole, A History of England from the Conclusion of the Great War in 1815, page 327:

     In accordance with their recommendation, the French Ministry drew a cordon sanitaire round the Spanish frontier. The plague gradually died away with the colder weather of the winter; but the French Ministry did not withdraw the troops who composed the cordon sanitaire.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 158:

     Bubonic plague had been in relative abeyance since the 1660s, and its explosion into Marseille and Provence in 1720 confirmed the ability of government, through quarantines and cordons sanitaires, to hem the disease in and prevent its diffusion across the country.

2. (by extension) Any barrier to the spread of anything deemed undesirable.
   • 1992, Peter Van Ham, Western Doctrines on East-West Trade: Theory, History and Policy, Springer, →ISBN, page 111:

     The alternative for such a policy was the isolation of Russia and the construction of a cordon sanitaire, in order to contain Bolshevism in the present area.

Translations

a barrier (physical or administrative) to prevent the spread of disease

• Catalan: cordó sanitari m
• Danish: cordon sanitaire c (historiographic. Eastern Europe in the 1920s.)
• Dutch: cordon sanitaire (nl) n
• French: cordon sanitaire (fr) m
• Galician: cordón sanitario f
• Georgian: სანიტარული კორდონი (saniṭaruli ḳordoni)
• German: Sperrgürtel m
• Italian: cordone sanitario m
• Portuguese: cordão sanitário (pt) m, barreira sanitária f
• Spanish: cordón sanitario f

any barrier to the spread of anything deemed undesirable

• Catalan: cordó sanitari m
• Danish: sikkerhedszone c, bufferzone c, stødpudezone c
• Dutch: cordon sanitaire (nl) n
• Finnish: hajurako (fi)
• French: cordon sanitaire (fr) m
• Galician: cordón sanitario f
• Georgian: სანიტარული კორდონი (saniṭaruli ḳordoni)
• German: Brandmauer (de)
• Portuguese: cordão sanitário (pt) m
• Spanish: cordón sanitario f

Further reading

• cordon sanitaire on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Dutch

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French cordon sanitaire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔrˌdɔn saː.niˈtɛːr/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

cordon sanitaire n (plural cordon sanitaires, diminutive cordon sanitairtje n)

1. cordon sanitaire (barrier to prevent the spread of disease) [from ca. 1820s.]
2. (figuratively) cordon sanitaire (barrier to the spread of anything deemed undesirable) [from ca. 1830s.]
   1. (Belgium, politics) the agreement amongst Belgian political parties to not govern with the party Vlaams Belang

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔʁ.dɔ̃ sa.ni.tɛʁ/

Noun

cordon sanitaire m (plural cordons sanitaires)

1. (public health) cordon sanitaire (a barrier (physical or administrative) to prevent the spread of disease)
2. (Belgium, politics, figuratively) The agreement amongst Belgian political parties to not govern with the party Vlaams Belang.

Descendants

• → Catalan: cordó sanitari (calque)
• → Dutch: cordon sanitaire
• → English: cordon sanitaire