Etymologically
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plague

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pleɪɡ/; /plɛɡ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English plage, borrowed from Old French plage and directly Late Latin plāga (“affliction; pestilence”) (in the Vulgate),[2][3][4] from Latin plāga (“stroke, blow, wound”),[2][3][5] probably related to plangō (“to strike, beat the breast, lament”), the source of plaint,[2][3] and either borrowed from Doric Ancient Greek πλαγά (plagá, “blow”) or cognate with it.[2][5][6] The root is Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂k- (“to strike”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A blow or wound, and an affliction or calamity, especially one sent by God: 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible, in the OED and Barnhart.[7][3][8]

Semantic evolution

The word was used of the ten plagues of Egypt, which were mainly afflictions rather than diseases.[8] A malignant disease is from the early 15th century,[2][3] an infectious epidemic with great mortality from 1548–9,[7] and the plague, bubonic plague, from 1564.[7] A nuisance or annoyance is from 1604.[7] The verb, first to afflict with calamity, is from the late 15th century (Caxton, 1481),[2][7] probably via Middle Dutch plāghen;[2] to vex or bother is from the 1590s.[2][7]

Timeline

  • 1382 – a blow; a divine affliction.[7][3]
  • early 15th century – a disease.[2]
  • 1481 – to afflict (verb).[7]
  • 1548–9 – an epidemic.[7]
  • 1564 – the plague.[7]
  • 1594 – to pester.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A highly infectious, usually fatal epidemic disease, especially bubonic plague.
  2. A widespread affliction or calamity, especially one seen as divine punishment.
  3. A sudden harmful outbreak or influx: a plague of locusts.
  4. (informal) A cause of annoyance; a nuisance.

Verb

  1. To pester or annoy persistently.
  2. To afflict with or as if with a disease or calamity.

Word family

  • plaguer
  • antiplague
  • plaguesome
  • plaguey
  • plaguy
  • bubonic plague
  • cattle plague
  • pneumonic plague

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press