The flu, one of the oldest illnesses known to us, has experienced many linguistic changes over time, even if the flu itself is stays basically the same!
When the flu epidemic started in 1918 the name it was given was “Spanish Flu”, although it didn’t originate there! During the First World War a flu epidemic started with the American troops, but because of censorship during the war this had to be kept under wraps. When it hit Europe however, with Spain being neutral during the first world war, there was nothing to hide and the flu problem within Spain was well known, especially because the King Alfonso XIII contracted it! This strange illness that had arrived in Europe was then known as the Spanish Flu!
Amando de Miguel
Some people believe that the name “gripe” comes from the English, though this isn’t the case! The name “grippe” comes from French because they believed that the insect (of the same name) was the cause of the disease. Nowadays in Spain it’s still known as “gripe”.
Orginally Influenza came from the Italian, because as the flu generally spread during the spring and autumn they believed that it was related to astrology and the name influenza was what the Tuscans used to name the influx of stars. The epidemic in Italy in 1357 was then called the “Big influenza”! In the XVIII century the English started calling the flu “influenza” too, and still do, although the more common name is Flu.
The name isn’t the only misconception of the flu though, the belief that it’s more common in the elderly and children is false too, it’s generally more wide spread amongst youths! What’s interesting too is that with all the fast air travel that we have these days the flu doesn’t seem to spread any faster than before! Potentially the fastest way of spreading the disease is by migrating birds!
The latest flu epidemic has also had loads of changes in name already; swine flu, mexican flu, new flu and now Flu A. The ‘A’ stands for the allusion to the fact that this Flu is supposedly new… funny seeing as the flu is the oldest illnesses!! To read more about this why not check out the article in Spanish by Amando de Miguel.
