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Origin and history of nausea

nausea(n.)

early 15c., "vomiting," from Latin nausea "seasickness," from Ionic Greek nausia (Attic nautia) "seasickness, nausea, disgust," literally "ship-sickness," from naus "ship" (from PIE root *nau- "boat"). Despite its etymology, the word in English seems never to have been restricted to seasickness. The 16c. canting slang had nase, or nasy "hopelessly drunk."

also from early 15c.

Entries linking to nausea

ad nauseam(adv.)

"to a sickening extent," Latin, literally "to sickness," from ad "to" (see ad-) + nauseam, accusative of nausea (see nausea). Especially of the disgust aroused by wearisome repetition.

nauseate(v.)

1630s, "to feel sick, to become affected with nausea" (intrans.), from nauseat- past-participle stem of Latin nauseare "to feel seasick, to vomit," also "to cause disgust," from nausea (see nausea). Related: Nauseated; nauseating; nauseatingly. In its early life it also had transitive senses of "to reject (food, etc.) with a feeling of nausea" (1640s), also figurative, "to loathe, to reject with disgust." Meaning "to create a loathing in, to cause nausea" is from 1650s. Careful writers use nauseated for "sick at the stomach" and reserve nauseous (q.v.) for "sickening to contemplate."

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noise
c. 1200, "sound of a musical instrument;" mid-13c., "loud speech, outcry, clamor, shouting;" c. 1300, "a sound of any kind from any source," especially a loud and disagreeable sound, from Old French noise "din, disturbance, uproar, brawl" (11c., in modern French only in phrase ch
sickness
"state of being sick or suffering from a disease," Middle English siknesse, from Old English seocnes "sickness, disease; a particular malady;" see sick (adj.) and -ness. It formerly was synonymous with illness; in late 19c. sickness began to be restricted to nausea and other dist
queasy
mid-15c., kyse, coysy, of food, "unsettling to the stomach, apt to cause nausea;" by 1540s of persons or the stomach, "affected...with nausea, inclined to vomit;" a word of uncertain origin, possibly from a Scandinavian source, such as Old Norse kveisa...
fulsome
Via the sense of "causing nausea" it came to be used of language, "offensive to taste or good manners" (early 15c.); especially...
qualm
Middle English, from Old English cwealm, cwelm (West Saxon) "death, murder, slaughter; disaster; widespread death by plague, pestilence or illness affecting humans or livestock; torment," utcualm (Anglian) "utter destruction," probably related to cwellan "to kill, murder, execute
symptom
"a departure from normal function or form as an expression or evidence of a disease," late 14c., sinthoma, from Medieval Latin sinthoma "symptom of a disease," altered from Late Latin symptoma, from Greek symptoma "a happening, accident, disease," from stem of sympiptein "to befa
angel
"one of a class of spiritual beings, attendants and messengers of God," a c. 1300 fusion of Old English engel (with hard -g-) and Old French angele. Both are from Late Latin angelus, from Greek angelos, literally "messenger, envoy, one that announces," in the New Testament "divin
humble
late 13c., of persons, "submissive, respectful, lowly in manner, modest, not self-asserting, obedient," from Old French humble, umble, earlier umele, from Latin humilis "lowly, humble," literally "on the ground," from humus "earth" (from PIE root *dhghem- "earth"). From late 14c.
poindexter
"nerdy intellectual," by 1986, U.S. teenager slang, from the character Poindexter, introduced 1959 in the made-for-TV cartoon version of "Felix the Cat." The name originally was a surname, said to be Norman. There is a rare name Poindexter, appearing in French as Poingdestre, "r
syncope
1520s, "contraction of a word by omission of middle sounds or letters," from Latin syncope "contraction of a word by elision," from Greek synkopē "contraction of a word," literally "a cutting off, cutting up, cutting short," from synkoptein "to cut up." This is from syn- "togethe

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