Science, ideas & the arts

influenza

Medieval Latin influentia was the 'inflowing' power of the stars; Italians blamed epidemics on it, and the 1743 Italian outbreak brought influenza into English. Pandemics carried the word on, to German and Russian in the 1800s and to Japan and the Arab world by the 1918 flu.

Weakest linkCertain

The road to English

From Medieval Latin to Old French, Middle English

From Italian to French

From Italian to German

From Italian to Russian

From Italian to Spanish

From English to Japanese

From English to Korean

From English to Arabic

1250Medieval Latin

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

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