Word of the Day: Putrefaction

Putrefaction
- n

Pronunciation:
[pyoo-truh-FAK-shuhn]

Definition:
1.the act or process of putrefying; the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter by bacteria and fungi that results in obnoxiously odorous products; rotting.

2. the state of being putrefied; decay.

Etymology:
c.1400, from O.Fr. putrefaction (14c.), from L. putrefactionem (nom. putrefactio), from putrefactus, pp. of putrefacere "to make rotten," from putrere "to be rotten" (see putrid) + facere "to make, do" (see factitious).

Quote with the word:
"Piety is the fermentation of the forming mind and the putrefaction of the disintegrating one."
- Franz Grillparzer

This word sounds stiiiiinky.

All this time, I thought "putrefication" was the word. Have I been living a lie?

Wait. Me too, Sib :\ What the... Can this be right?

Sorry, but true
Great choice of quotes, J.

Maybe you two bozos were confusing it with petrification (also petrifaction), the art of becoming a fossil. How putrid of you.

I wonder why the departure from the general rule? Don't most words go the "ication" route?

I'm so weirded out by this one.

EDIT!
You're right, -fic- is also a form of 'make' that underwent a change from the original -fac- root. I'll try to find out why it didn't change in this context.

----MORE EDITING!----

Sibby:
First, the word 'putrefication' DOES co-exist with our WOTD "putrefaction". (See dictionary.com)

You see words undergoing this change when changing a verb to an abstract noun in French borrowings.

So take PUTR(I)-FY Where the main constituents are:

putr- rot, decay
-fy - make, do
We'll leave the -i- alone as it has no purpose other than to hold the root and suffix together.

Here, we'll add the suffix -tion to turn the verb into a noun. So take putr(i)-fy and add the suffix -tion.

Now we have putr(i)-fy-tion

Next, the suffix -fy undergoes a change and ends up as -fic- instead. This is because it has been moved into the second-to-last syllable position. I suppose I should mention that like the -i-, we add an -a-. I can't remember the technical term to describe these vowels, but just think of them as mortar sticking the roots, infixes, suffixes, etc. together.

Voila! Putrefication!

Now that I got THAT out of the way, here's the main point. From what I gather, one of three things could've happened here. 'Putrefaction' could have been borrowed from Old French BEFORE the sound underwent vowel weakening and changed from -fac- to -fic- (don't quote me on this, because I'm not sure of the time period). OR we could be seeing the result of scholars trying to "preserve" what they falsely deemed to be a Latin borrowing by changing the infix -fic- back to -fac-. OR MAYYYBE the etymology is all wrong and we actually did borrow it directly from Latin in which case it would be a perfect preservation of our Latin cognate 'putrefactionem.'

Sound good?

Jordan, you're amazing.

Haha, nah. I had to do a refresher course for myself first. :)