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Origin and history of plague

plague(n.)

late 14c., plage, "affliction, calamity, evil, scourge, severe trouble or vexation;" early 15c., "malignant disease," from Old French plage (14c., Modern French plaie), from Late Latin plaga "affliction; slaughter, destruction," used in Vulgate for "pestilence," from Latin plaga "stroke, wound," probably from root of plangere "to strike, lament (by beating the breast)," from or cognate with Greek (Doric) plaga "blow" (from PIE root *plak- (2) "to strike").

Sometimes in Middle English also "a strike, a blow" (late 14c.). The Latin word also is the source of Old Irish plag (genitive plaige) "plague, pestilence," German Plage, Dutch plaage. Meaning "epidemic that causes many deaths" is from 1540s; specifically in reference to bubonic plague from c. 1600. Modern spelling follows French, which had plague from 15c. Weakened sense of "anything annoying" is from c. 1600.

plague(v.)

late 15c. (Caxton), "infest with disease or other natural calamity," from Middle Dutch plaghen, from plaghe (n.) "plague" (see plague (n.)). The sense of "vex, harass, bother, annoy" is recorded from 1590s. Related: Plagued; plaguing.

also from late 15c.

Entries linking to plague

apoplexy(n.)

"sudden fit of paralysis and dizziness," late 14c., from Old French apoplexie or directly from Late Latin apoplexia, from Greek apoplexia, from apoplektos "disabled by a stroke, struck dumb," verbal adjective from apoplēssein "to strike down and incapacitate," from apo "off" (see apo-), in this case perhaps an intensive prefix, + plēssein "to hit" (from PIE root *plak- (2) "to strike;" source also of plague, which also has a root sense of "stricken"). The Latin translation, sideratio, means "disease caused by a constellation."

plaguey(adj.)

1570s, "pertaining to a plague," from plague (n.) + -y (2). Figurative meaning "vexatious, troublesome" is from 1610s. As an adverb, "vexatiously, deucedly" (properly plaguily) it is attested from 1580s, often with deliberate attempt at humor. Johnson also has woundy "excessive." The sense of "plague-stricken, marked by the plague" (c. 1600) is now archaic or obsolete.

*plak-(2)

*plāk-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to strike."

It might form all or part of: apoplexy; cataplexy; complain; fling; paraplegia; plaint; plangent; plankton; planxty; plague; plectrum; quadriplegia.

It might also be the source of: Greek plazein "to drive away," plēssein "to beat, strike;" Latin plangere "to strike, lament;" Old English flocan "to strike, beat;" Gothic flokan "to bewail;" German fluchen, Old Frisian floka "to curse."

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    Trends of plague

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    harry
    Old English hergian "make war, lay waste, ravage, plunder," the word used in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for what the Vikings did to England, from Proto-Germanic *harjon (source also of Old Frisian urheria "lay waste, ravage, plunder," Old Norse herja "to make a raid, to plunder,"
    chivvy
    "harass," 1918, from alternative form of chevy (1830) "to chase," from a noun chevy (1824, also used as a hunting cry, c. 1785), from chevy chase "a running pursuit," probably from the "Ballad of Chevy Chase," a popular song from 15c. describing a hunting party on the borderland
    beset
    Old English besettan "to put, place; own, keep; occupy, settle; cover, surround with, besiege," from Proto-Germanic *bisatjan (source also of Old Saxon bisettjan, Dutch bezetten, Old High German bisezzan, German besetzen, Gothic bisatjan); see be- + set (v.). The figurative sense
    pestilence
    c. 1300, "any infectious or contagious disease, fatal epidemic," from Old French pestilence "plague, epidemic" (12c.) and...directly from Latin pestilentia "a plague, an unwholesome atmosphere," noun of condition from pestilentem (nominative pestilens...) "infected, unwholesome, noxious," from pestis "deadly disease, plague" (see pest)....
    epidemic
    from Medieval Latin epidemia, from Greek epidemia "a stay in a place; prevalence of an epidemic disease" (especially the plague...
    Delian
    a cube having double the volume of a given cube," was set by the oracle at Delos when it answered (430 B.C.E.) that the plague...
    carbine
    A less-likely theory (Gamillscheg, etc.) connects it to Old French escarrabin "corpse-bearer during the plague," literally...
    pest
    1550s (in imprecations, "a pest upon ____," etc.), "plague, pestilence, epidemic disease," from French peste (1530s), from Latin pestis "deadly contagious disease; a curse, bane," a word of uncertain origin. Meaning "any noxious, destructive, or troublesome person or thing" is at
    step
    Middle English steppen, from Old English steppan (Anglian), stæppan (West Saxon) "take a step, move the legs and feet as in walking," from West Germanic *stapjanan "tread" (source also of Old Frisian stapa, Middle Dutch, Dutch stappen, Old High German stapfon, German stapfen "ste
    nettle
    "herbaceous plant of the genus Urtica, armed with stinging hairs" (also used of other plants of the genus and of nettle-like plants, generally with a qualifying word), Middle English netle, from Old English netele, from Proto-Germanic *natilon (source also of Old Saxon netila, Mi

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