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Origin and history of typhus

typhus(n.)

acute infectious fever, usually accompanied by severe prostration, delirium, and small reddish spots, 1785, from medical Latin, from Greek typhos "stupor caused by fever," literally "smoke," from typhein "to smoke," related to typhos "blind," typhon "whirlwind." Beekes rejects the derivation suggested in Watkins that these are from a PIE root *dheu- (1) "dust, vapor, smoke."

The Greek term [typhos] (smoke, mist, fog) was employed by Hippocrates to define a confused state of the intellect, with a tendency to stupor (stupor attonitus); and in this sense it is aptly applied to typhus fever with its slow cerebration and drowsy stupor. Boissier de Sauvages first (in 1760) called this fever "typhus," and the name was adopted by Cullen of Edinburgh in 1769. Previous to the time of de Sauvages typhus was known as "Pestilential" or "Putrid Fever," or by some name suggested by the eruption, or expressive of the locality in which it appeared, as "Camp," "Jail," "Hospital," or "Ship Fever" (Murchison). [Thomas Clifford, ed., "A System of Medicine," New York, 1897]

Related: typhous (adj.). For distinction, see typhoid.

also from 1785

Entries linking to typhus

typhoid(adj.)

1800, "resembling typhus," in reference to febrile illnesses characterized by delirious stupors, from typhus + -oid.

The noun is attested by 1861, a shortened form of typhoid fever (1845), so called before researchers confirmed it as a different disease c.1880. Since then enteric fever often is preferred.

Typhus is caused by Rickettsia bacteria and spread by fleas and other vermin; typhoid is caused by Salmonella bacteria and frequently spreads through human waste. Related: Typhoidal.

Typhoid Mary (1909) was Mary Mallon (1869-1938), a typhoid carrier who worked as a cook round New York City and became notorious after it was learned she unwittingly had infected hundreds in U.S.

typhoon(n.)

Tiphon "violent storm, whirlwind, tornado," 1550s, from Greek typhōn "whirlwind," personified as a giant, father of the winds, a name probably [Beekes] from or related to typhein "to smoke" (see typhus). According to Watkins from PIE *dheub- "deep, hollow," via notion of "monster from the depths." The god-name is in Middle English in Wycliffe's wynd Tiffonyk (c. 1384, via Latin typhonicus).

The meaning "cyclone, violent hurricane of India or the China Seas" is attested by 1588 in Thomas Hickock's translation of an account in Italian of a voyage to the East Indies by Caesar Frederick, a merchant of Venice:

concerning which Touffon ye are to vnderstand, that in the East Indies often times, there are not stormes as in other countreys; but euery 10. or 12. yeeres there are such tempests and stormes, that it is a thing incredible, but to those that haue seene it, neither do they know certainly what yeere they wil come. ["The voyage and trauell of M. Caesar Fredericke, Marchant of Venice, into the East India, and beyond the Indies"]

This sense of the word, in reference to titanic storms in the East Indies, is found in Europe first in Portuguese in the mid-16th century. It apparently is from tufan, a word in Arabic, Persian, and Hindi meaning "big cyclonic storm." Yule ["Hobson-Jobson," London, 1903] writes that "the probability is that Vasco [da Gama] and his followers got the tufao ... direct from the Arab pilots."

The Arabic word sometimes is said to be from Greek typhon, but other sources consider it purely Semitic, though the Greek word might have influenced the form of the word in English. Al-tufan occurs several times in the Koran for "a flood or storm" and also for Noah's Flood. Chinese (Cantonese) tai fung "a great wind" also might have influenced the form or sense of the word in English, and that term and the Indian one may have had some mutual influence; toofan still means "big storm" in India.

From the thighs downward he was nothing but coiled serpents, and his arms which, when he spread them out, reached a hundred leagues in either direction, had countless serpents' heads instead of hands. His brutish ass-head touched the stars, his vast wings darkened the sun, fire flashed from his eyes, and flaming rocks hurtled from his mouth. [Robert Graves, "Typhon," in "The Greek Myths"]

*dheu-(1)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "dust, vapor, smoke."

It might form all or part of: enthymeme; fewmet; fume; fumigation; funk; perfume; sfumato; typhoid; typhoon; typhus.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit dhuma- "smoke, fume;" Greek thymos "spirit, courage, anger," thymiao "fumigate," thymin "incense;" Latin fumus "smoke, steam, fume;" Lithuanian dūmai "smoke" (plural); Old Prussian dumis "smoke;" Old Church Slavonic dymu "smoke;" Middle Irish dumacha "fog;" perhaps Old High German toum "steam, vapor."