scorbut

Pronunciation

• IPA: /skɔʁ.byt/^[1]
• IPA (Canada): /skɔʁ.by/^[1]

Forms

scorbut m (plural scorbuts)^[1] Scuerbuyck (1557) and schoerbuck (1561), as foreign words^[2][3][4]; scurbut (1604), scorbut (1610).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin scorbūtus, a medical term (from 1557),^{[2][3][5][6][7]} probably formed from an unattested Middle Dutch *scōrbut, modern Dutch scheurbuik, supposed from Middle Low German schorbuk (1404).^[2][3][5] The Dutch word was probably taken, through Old Swedish skörbjug, from Old Norse skyrbjúgr, a compound of skyr (“curdled milk”) and bjúgr (“swelling, oedema”): the swellings were blamed on the curds that sailors ate in quantity on long voyages.^{[2][3][5][4][8]} The Oxford English Dictionary instead derives the Middle Dutch word from “schoren” “to tear” and “buk” “belly”, the Norse word then being a borrowing.^[3]

The French word was first recorded as a Dutch and Frisian word, “scuerbuyck” (1557).^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

François Martin's account of the first French voyage to the East Indies (1604) has scurbut, the sailors' disease;^[2][3] the form scorbut appears in the French translation of Linschoten's voyages (1610).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Scorbut is now known as a disease caused by lack of vitamin C, with anaemia, bleeding gums and wasting^[2][9][10]; Littré still described it as due above all to long stays on board ship.^[2][9][10] Scorbutique (1642, first “good against scurvy”; of a sufferer, 1672) and antiscorbutique (1671) followed.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1404 – Middle Low German schorbuk.^[2][3]
• 1557 – Scuerbuyck, as a Dutch word^[2][3]; Medieval Latin scorbutus.^[2][3]
• 1604 – Scurbut (François Martin).^[2]
• 1610 – Scorbut.^[2]
• 1671 – Antiscorbutique.^[5][3]
• 1694 – First recorded by the Académie.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Scurvy, a disease caused by lack of vitamin C.^[9][1]

Word family

• scorbutique
• anti-

Related words

• English scurvy

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 63a
8. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette