anthrax

Forms

anthrax m (uncountable)^[1] Middle French andrac, antrac and andrax.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin anthrax (“virulent ulcer”), a word of medical Latin,^[2][3][5] from Ancient Greek ἄνθραξ (ánthrax, “charcoal, live coal”).^[3][6][7][8] The tumour was so named because its surface is blackish, as if charred.^[2][6] Etymonline, following Beekes, calls the Greek word of unknown origin, probably from a pre-Greek language.^[5]

The older forms andrac and antrac were later replaced by the Latin spelling.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the 14th century as andrac or antrac, for an inflamed tumour.^[2][3] A medical treatise of the late 15th century explains andrac as a sore that makes a hollow, and links it with charboncle because it burns like hot coal and then turns black.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word once covered both a benign and a malignant disease; the malignant one later took the name charbon, and anthrax kept the cluster of boils.^[9] Paré, in the 16th century, still writes Charbon, anthrax pestifereux.^[6] Like the Greek and Latin words, it also named a red gem, the spinel ruby,^[9][10] and in zoology a genus of flies that attack bees and wasps.^[9][11]

The use of anthrax for the disease called charbon is an anglicism:^[12][11] in English the word was applied to the malignant disease of sheep and cattle from 1876.^[5]

Timeline

• 14th century – First recorded as andrac and antrac.^[2][3]
• 1478 – Andrax appears in Panis's Guidon.^[4]
• 1495 – The Grand Robert's first dated record, as antrac.^[13][12]
• 1503 – The form anthrax appears, in Guy de Chauliac.^[2][3]
• 1876 – English begins to use anthrax for the cattle disease.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) A carbuncle, a cluster of boils with dead tissue at its centre.^[12][9][11]
2. (medicine, anglicism) anthrax, the disease also called charbon.^[12][11][7]
3. (mineralogy) The spinel ruby.^[9][10]
4. (zoology) A fly of a genus whose larvae attack bees, wasps and other insects.^[9][11]

Related words

• charbon
• escarboucle
• anthracite

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 649b
9. ^ a b c d e f Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
10. ^ a b Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
11. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert