From which language do we get the word 'malaria'?
Malaria is a serious life-threatening disease, which affects humans' blood. It is transmitted by Anopheles mosquito through its bites. It sets the parasites into the system, where they multiply and infect blood cells.
Nowadays a lot of work is done by the scientists to improve the process of treatment of malaria. Of course, it is hard to diagnose the disease at the early stages, and many people in the world still suffer and die from it. It often happens in the areas lacking medical facilities.
The disease was originally thought to be caused by swamp fumes in Rome. That's why the name for it was derived from Italian, where "malaria" means "bad air".
More Info:
www.medicalnewstoday.com
What are your thoughts on this subject?
12 Comments
William Weathers
I'd say it originated in Latin, not Italian. All listed languages are Romance (Latin based). So, technically, they would all be correct and incorrect simultaneously.
Helga U. Williams
Good question and great options.
👍
Kath Thomson
Alejo Planchart, the word malaria came from older Italian (mal=bad and aria=air) and is still used in that language today for the disease. As stated in the explanation, it was thought that malaria was caused by the bad air from swamps in Rome.
Alejo Planchart
In all romance languages (derived from Latin) the word malaria means the same: mal aire (in Spanish), mauvais air ( in French), mau ar (in Portuguese) and aria cattiva (in Italian). The word malaria is the same malaria in Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian. So, I do not know where from you got the idea that it came from Italian. It seems that spanish is a better origin for the word. Laveran, a French military physician the one who discovered the parasite called it Oscilliaria malariae but the Italian word Plasmodium won favor. So it seems to come from Latin (the original name of the parasite) but the closest one today is the Spanish.
Howard Groopman
William Laughlin, It's there now.
earlepg
Since Latin isn't available, I had to select Italian.
Wayne Roberts
Bad air in English was called Miasma!
Merri Sillery
filmnut, actually humans are the number one killer of humans, mosquitos come in second.
Ilias Tsiabardas
From the 2 Combined Italian Words Male -Aria ( Bad Air ) And i am a Survivor of Malaria been in Africa in the Sixties
Albeck1994
Fahed Sacoor, wrong in Portuguese the name is Malaria I speak Portuguese do you
filmnut
The mosquito is the “Number One” killer of human beings on the planet (year in, year out).
William Laughlin
This question concerns the etymology of the word, yet the explanation ignores that altogether. There is no discussion of the meaning of the word or its origins, etc.
Instead, the explanation is about the disease itself. Grade: F