World Events · 2
During the 14th-century plague pandemic, what Italian phrase meaning 'forty days' became the origin of the English word 'quarantine'?
Answer
Quaranta giorni
Venetian officials required incoming ships to wait offshore for forty days before docking, and the Italian phrase for that period, 'quaranta giorni,' became the root of the English word 'quarantine.'
💡 Did you know?
Venetian merchants invented quarantine during the 1377 plague by forcing ships to wait 40 days offshore—the word comes from Italian 'quaranta giorni' (40 days).
Other options people guess
- Trenta giorni
- Sessanta giorni
- Venti giorni
Topics
- plague
- quarantine
- language
- medieval-history
Know your world events trivia?
Play a free World Events quiz and see how many you get right — no signup needed to start.
More World Events facts
World Events
Which Roman city was buried and preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD?
When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, volcanic ash preserved an entire Roman city so perfectly that carbonized bread loaves remain identifiable in Pompeii ovens today.
World Events
What line, first proposed in 1919 and adopted after World War II, defined Poland's new eastern border with the Soviet Union?
Poland essentially shifted westward like a chess piece after World War II: losing eastern territory to the USSR but gaining German lands as compensation.
World Events
Which river-based boundary line became Poland's new western border with Germany after World War II?
Poland essentially shifted westward like a chess piece after World War II: losing eastern territory to the USSR but gaining German lands as compensation.
World Events
Which city hosted the 1986 G7 Summit, the first major international gathering held in Japan?
Japan has hosted the G7 Summit more times than any non-European country, with Tokyo, Nago, and Ise-Shima all serving as venues across different decades.
World Events
Which international organization was founded on October 24, 1945, to promote peace and cooperation after the Second World War?
October 24 is celebrated annually as United Nations Day, and the organization's headquarters in New York sits on international territory.
World Events
Which 1990s armed conflict was formally ended by the Dayton Peace Agreement, negotiated in Ohio and signed in Paris in 1995?
Negotiators were intentionally isolated at a U.S. Air Force base for three weeks with minimal outside contact, which many historians credit with producing the breakthrough.