Sunday, March 31, 2024

Etymology of afflictions

Affliction - Stems from Latin "afflictio," meaning "a striking down, overthrow," from "affligere," "to strike" or "to dash."

Cholera - Comes from Greek "kholera," from "khole," meaning "bile" or "gall," reflecting the humoral theory of disease.

Cough - Traces back to the Old English "cohhian," of imitative origin, reflecting the sound and action of coughing.

Diarrhoea - From Greek "διάρροια" (diarrhoia), from "διά" (dia), "through," and "ῥέω" (rheo), "to flow," meaning "flowing through."

Diphtheria - Comes from Greek "diphthera," meaning "leather" or "hide," describing the appearance of a membrane in the throat.

Disease - From Old French "desaise," "lack of ease," from "des-" (without, lack of) + "aise" (ease).

Dysentery - Derives from Greek words "dys-", meaning "bad" or "difficult," and "enteron," meaning "intestine," referring to a disorder of the intestines.

Fever - Traces back to Old English "fēfor" or "fēfer," from Latin "febris," meaning "fever," stemming from Proto-Indo-European roots related to burning.

Flu - A shortened form of "influenza," from the Italian "influenza di freddo," meaning "influence of the cold."

Flux - From Latin "fluxus," meaning "flow" or "a flowing," derived from "fluere," which means "to flow."

Leprosy - From Latin "lepra," deriving from Greek "λέπρα" (lépra), meaning "a disease that makes the skin scaly," from "λεπίς" (lepís), "scale" or "flake."

Malaria - From Italian "mala aria," meaning "bad air," reflecting the historical belief that the disease was caused by foul air from marshes and swamps.

Measles - Derives from Middle English "mesles," likely from Middle Dutch "masel" or Middle Low German "masel," meaning "spot" or "blemish."

Mumps - Originates from the verb "to mump," meaning "to mumble" or "to grimace," reflecting the swelling around the neck and jaw caused by the disease.

Pestilence - Traces back to Latin "pestilentia," meaning "plague" or "contagious disease," from "pestis," "plague" or "deadly disease."

Plague - Originates from Late Latin "plaga," meaning "stroke," "wound," or "affliction," from Greek "plēgē," "blow" or "misfortune."

Pneumonia - Derives from the Greek word "pneumon," meaning "lung," with the suffix "-ia" indicating a condition or disease.

Pox - From Old English "pox," meaning "pustule, blister," indicative of the disease's symptoms. It stems from Proto-Germanic and potentially Proto-Indo-European roots related to swelling or pus.

Rash - Derives from the early 18th century, from an obsolete French word *rache, meaning "a sore," from Latin "rasus," "scraped."

Scabies - Comes from the Latin word "scabere," meaning "to scratch."

Scurvy - Likely from Old Norse "skyrbjúgr," with "skyr" meaning "sour milk" and "bjúgr" meaning "swelling," or directly from Latin "scorbutus."

Sneeze - Comes from Middle English "snesen" or "fnese," from Old English "fnesan," of imitative origin, mimicking the sound of sneezing.

Syphilis - Named after Syphilis, a character in a 1530 poem by Girolamo Fracastoro, "Syphilis sive morbus gallicus."

Typhoid - Derives from Greek "typhos," meaning "smoke," "mist," or "fog," and "-oid," meaning "resembling," indicating a state of stupor or confusion associated with the disease.

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