OLD DISEASE NAMES.

April 25, 2004 by 9 Comments

Another enjoyable specialty site courtesy of Wordorigins. Some examples:

EEL THING: Erysipelas
MORMAL: Gangrene
MORPHEW: Scurvy blisters on the body

Not to mention the mysterious DEATH FROM TEETHING.

Comments

  1. Kip Manley says
    April 25, 2004 at 6:43 pm

    But no “marthambles.” –Still: Bronze John and grocer’s itch are both wonderful. In an abstract lexicographal kinda way, not a boy does that sound like a fun disease kinda way.

  2. terry says
    April 26, 2004 at 1:15 pm

    Interesting. I remember I think it was Anacin still prescribed for “neuritis and neuralgia.”

  3. Lisa Spangenberg says
    April 27, 2004 at 12:25 am

    On mormal–gangrene just doesn’t seem to fit to me. The most familiar reference to “mormal” I know of is in Chaucer’s General Prologue, where he describes first the Cook, and then the Cook’s “mormal,” with an implication that it is an open running sore:
    379         A COOK they hadde with hem for the nones
    380         To boille the chiknes with the marybones,
    381         And poudre-marchant tart and galyngale.
    382         Wel koude he knowe a draughte of Londoun ale.
    383         He koude rooste, and sethe, and broille, and frye,
    384         Maken mortreux, and wel bake a pye.
    385         But greet harm was it, as it thoughte me,
    386         That on his shyne a mormal hadde he.
    387         For blankmanger, that made he with the beste.
    I admit to taking a particular delight in pointing out to students that there’s a direct connection between the mormal, and the appearance of blancemanger, a white gelatanous pudding .
    I note that the OED describes a mormal as a sore:
    ” 1. A sore or ulcer, usually with a dry crust or scab, found esp. on the legs. Also fig. Now hist.
    Prob. used non-specifically; the description in quot. 1543 suggests ecthyma or impetigo.”

  4. language hat says
    April 27, 2004 at 7:54 am

    Yuk.
    But isn’t that “blancmange” (if I’m remembering my Monty Python correctly)?

  5. Ray says
    April 27, 2004 at 9:46 am

    As terry says, interesting, but it doesn’t look very reliable. I don’t see what’s old or obsolete about many of the terms: cholera, cystitis, impetigo, meningitis, necrosis, nephritis, septicemia, thrush, tetanus, etc. And some entries, such as “peritonotis” and “diptheria”, appear to be misspellings rather than obsolete. The source material seems to come partly from non-expert sources, and partly from better-researched sites like Paul Smith’s Archaic Medical Terms, which is partly aimed at those who don’t understand even non-archaic medical terms.

  6. language hat says
    April 27, 2004 at 9:51 am

    Yeah, it looked pretty slapdash; you notice I called it “entertaining,” not “reliable.” But I couldn’t resist “death from teething.”

  7. Lisa Spangenberg says
    April 27, 2004 at 3:41 pm

    “Death from Teething” afflicts the parents, and sometimes, the siblings of the teething child.

  8. Ray says
    April 27, 2004 at 5:33 pm

    I called it “entertaining,” not “reliable.”
    Understood. The more I look at it, the less credible it gets. It’s pretty interesting as a meme: a Google search on some of the more picturesque terms – for instance, [“eel thing” erysipelas] – finds a couple of hundred of copies, largely going the rounds via genealogical sites. No primary source in sight, nor much input of critical comment.

  9. Ray says
    April 28, 2004 at 6:56 am

    Oh, and further to Lisa‘s comment, neither is a morphew a “scurvy blister”. OED references show it referred to various skin blemishes and discolorations.

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