Pylimitics

There are quite a few people sick right now. Some of them probably have “the flu” — and it occurred to me, doesn’t it seem like “the flu” is a strange name for a disease? The real story is even stranger than you might think.

“Flu” is short for “influenza,” which is the full name of the illness — at least it is nowadays. “Influenza” comes from the Latin “influencia” — that word basically meant “influence,” but in practice it implied quite a bit more. “Influencia,” in turn, came from “fluere,” which meant “to flow.” The stuff that was supposed to be “flowing” was some sort of stuff emitted by certain stars (yes, actual stars in the sky). These stars were believed to exert power over events here on Earth particularly in relation to people. They had other kinds of effects, of course, over bigger and more destructive happenings, and those were called “disasters,” from “dis” (evil) and “astra” (stars). Think of it; if an earthquake ever demolishes the building while the Academy Awards ceremony is in progress, we’ve already got exactly the right word available!

But back to influencia. That word entered Italian as “influenza,” and at that time nearly every sort of plague or epidemic was generally blamed on the stars. Because it was coming from this “star fluid,” remember, and everybody knew how that worked (alas, that particular knowledge seems to have been lost), there were lots of things called “influenza.” 

In 1743 something very much like the disease now called “the flu” broke out in Italy and spread all over Europe. Because of where it started, it was called “influenza di catarro.” When you have the flu, you have to use your words carefully in order to leave time for sneezing and coughing, so “influenza di catarro” was shortened to simply “influenza.” Possibly because the outbreak was so widespread, that seems to be the first time the term “influenza” got attached to just one sort of disease (or at least one set of symptoms). Then, possibly because “influenza” was a bit much to fit in when you’re busy blowing your nose, it was further shortened to “the flu.” 

By the way, there’s another story you might encounter about where the term “influenza” originated. It stars with an Arabic word (which might not even actually be a word): “anfalanza.” “Anf” in Arabic means “nose” and “al-anza” means goat, so “anfalanza” meant — and I’m not making this up — a goat with a runny nose. Supposedly that word entered Italian as “influenza,” somehow everybody forgot about the goats, and there it stuck. Excellent tale, but unfortunately there’s a lot of evidence for the Latin origin and none for the one with goats. Too bad — or, maybe I should say baaaa-flubug!