Etymologically
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syphilis

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈsɪfɪlɪs/[1]

Etymology

It is New Latin syphilis,[2][3][4][5] from the title of a Latin poem, “Syphilis, sive Morbus Gallicus” (“Syphilis, or the French disease”), published in 1530 by the Veronese physician Girolamo Fracastoro.[2][3][4][5][6] The poem tells of the shepherd Syphilus, supposed to be the first sufferer from the disease.[2][3][4][6] Klein and Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories take the name to mean “swine lover”, from Ancient Greek σῦς (sûs, “pig”) and φίλος (phílos, “friend, lover”);[7][8][9] the AHD says its source is not known for certain.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The venereal disease (1718 in the OED, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster, though Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives a first use in 1653).[10][3][5][11]

Semantic evolution

Fracastoro first used the word as a general name for the disease in his treatise De Contagione (1546).[4] He is also remembered for a germ theory of disease far ahead of its time.[8] The adjective syphilitic is recorded from 1786.[3]

Timeline

  • 1530 – Fracastoro's poem.[2][3]
  • 1546 – Fracastoro's general use in De Contagione.[4]
  • 1653 – first known use in Merriam-Webster Unabridged.[11]
  • 1718 – English use (OED).[10][3][5]
  • 1786 – syphilitic.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A chronic infectious disease caused by the spirochete Treponema pallidum, usually passed on by sexual contact or from mother to child, which progresses through three stages, from a local chancre to skin eruptions and widespread infection.

Word family

  • syphilitic
  • syphiloid
  • venereal
  • pox
  • chancre

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster