Re: Bubo and Plague

In message <f3kMf.46279$d5.202542@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Alan Crozier <name1.name2@xxxxxxxxx> writes
"Simon Pugh" <News@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:d7kx7nEuBcAEFwL1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I was wondering about the origin of the word bubo in
connection with
plague as in Latin it means owl.

A look in the dictionary suggests the word comes from the
Greek boubon -
groin or swelling.

Bubo or bubum seems to have been a medieval Latin term for a
swelling
and bubonocele for inguinal hernia although I couldn't find
this use in
classical Latin.

No, it's a late Latin borrowing from Greek.

I had a1250 for bubo and c595 for bubum

This word meaning groin or bulge goes back to an Indo-European
root meaning "to swell".

The cry of the bubo (horned owl) was said to be an ill omen by
the
Romans and in Christian symbolism an owl can also have
negative
connotations and I wondered if this could have made the term
seem
appropriate for a sign of the plague.

The word meaning owl goes back to a different IE root imitating
the call of the owl (hence words for the bird in Persian bum,
Armenian bu, Greek byas, byza, Bulgarian buh). The same root
gives words for the bittern (Lithuanian baublys, Latin butio,
Polish bak).

Interesting, my Latin dictionary gives the root BOV, BV - cry out or bellow.


So, there is no original connection between the words for groin
and owl. It is perfectly possible that learned people in the
Middle Ages nevertheless imagined a connection, as you suggest.

I think the lesions of plague were sometimes known as tokens, sort of like omens, but if bubo wasn't specifically linked to plague until later, it rather falls through. :-)


However when I had a quick look through sources on the Black
Death I
found the swellings called just about every imaginable thing
except
bubo.

English seems to have plenty of words for boils and swellings
and various kinds.

I wonder if anyone knows when the term first came into use in
connection
with plague, I am beginning to wonder if it was Victorian

The earliest use of bubo in the OED is quite old, in fact. It's
from 1398, from Trevisa:

Somtyme a postume comyth of ventosite and of wynde and hight
Bubo.

Meaning:

Sometimes an apostem (deep abscess) comes from ventosity
(flatulence) and from wind and is called Bubo.

The next example is from 1597, Gerard's Herbal:

Which imposthume is called Bubo by reason of his lurking in such
secret places
(explaning why the same word means groin and swelling)

Alan


Thanks, that's interesting, but not specifically linked to plague. I will have to dig deeper. :-)
--
Simon Pugh
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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Bubo and Plague
    ... Bubo or bubum seems to have been a medieval Latin term for a ... The word meaning owl goes back to a different IE root imitating ... there is no original connection between the words for groin ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • Re: Bubo and Plague
    ... Bubo or bubum seems to have been a medieval Latin term for a ... The word meaning owl goes back to a different IE root imitating ... there is no original connection between the words for groin ... but if bubo wasn't specifically linked to plague until ...
    (soc.history.medieval)