Re: Bubo and Plague

"Peter Alaca" <P.Alaca@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:440304e9$0$53937$dbd43001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Grethe wrote:
news:4402ff97$0$27523$edfadb0f@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Simon Pugh" <News@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> skrev i en meddelelse
news:g79+r9JKqfAEFwcm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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)

There is also a verb buto -ere with a short u which means
cry like a
bittern according to Lewis & Short.

Hej, now you're coming close to another bird, Buteo Buteo!
`:)
Grethe

Listen: http://tinyurl.com/ljphe

A wounded buzzard once died in my arms. We found it by the
roadside as we were about to drive in to Lund and decided to
take it with us to the Dept of Zoology. My wife was driving and
I held the bird. As we neared Lund it made one last struggle to
escape from my grasp and gave up the ghost.

Alan

--
Alan Crozier
Lund
Sweden


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Bubo and Plague
    ... Bubo or bubum seems to have been a medieval Latin term for ... This word meaning groin or bulge goes back to an ... The word meaning owl goes back to a different IE root ...
    (soc.history.medieval)
  • Re: Bubo and Plague
    ... Bubo or bubum seems to have been a medieval Latin term ... This word meaning groin or bulge goes back to an ... The word meaning owl goes back to a different IE root ... Sometimes an apostem comes from ventosity ...
    (soc.history.medieval)