Re: Bubo and Plague

In message <4401edd7$0$65810$dbd4b001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Peter Alaca <P.Alaca@xxxxxx> writes
Alan Crozier wrote: news:f3kMf.46279$d5.202542@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"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.

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).

Scientific name: Botaurus

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.

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.

That is very characteristic of the Bittern.
Very secretive and almost invisible in
the reeds

(explaning why the same word means groin and swelling)

Alan


There is also a verb buto -ere with a short u which means cry like a bittern according to Lewis & Short.
--
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 swelling ... Romans and in Christian symbolism an owl can also have negative ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • Bubo and Plague
    ... 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. ... 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. ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • Re: Bubo and Plague
    ... Bubo or bubum seems to have been a medieval Latin term for a swelling ... Romans and in Christian symbolism an owl can also have negative ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • Re: Bubo and Plague
    ... with plague as in Latin it means owl. ... boubon - groin or swelling. ... Romans and in Christian symbolism an owl can also have negative ... thing except bubo. ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • Re: Bubo and Plague
    ... with plague as in Latin it means owl. ... boubon - groin or swelling. ... Romans and in Christian symbolism an owl can also have negative ... thing except bubo. ...
    (soc.history.medieval)