History The Christian Disease or, the Black Lion
posted by October 22 at 12:16 PM
onSyphilis isn’t funny. But this passage sure is:
The name “syphilis” was coined by the Italian physician and poet Girolamo Fracastoro in his epic noted poem, written in Latin, entitled Syphilis sive morbus gallicus (Latin for “Syphilis or The French Disease”) in 1530. The protagonist of the poem is a shepherd named Syphilus (perhaps a variant spelling of Sipylus, a character in Ovid’s Metamorphoses). Syphilus is presented as the first man to contract the disease, sent by the god Apollo as punishment for the defiance that Syphilus and his followers had showed him. By the addition of the suffix -is to the root of Syphilus, Fracastoro derived a new name for the disease, which he also used in his medical text De Contagionibus (“On Contagious Diseases”).
Until that time, as Fracastoro notes, syphilis had been called the “French disease” in Italy and Germany, and the “Italian disease” in France. In addition, the Dutch called it the “Spanish disease,” the Russians called it the “Polish disease,” the Turks called it the “Christian disease” or “Frank disease” (frengi) and the Tahitians called it the “British disease.” It was called “Great pox” in the 16th century to distinguish it from smallpox. In its early stages, the Great pox produced a rash similar to smallpox (also known as variola). However, the name is misleading, as smallpox was a far more deadly disease. The terms “lues” and “Cupid’s Disease” have also been used to refer to syphilis. In Scotland, Syphilis was referred to as the Grandgore. Because of the outbreak in the French army, it was first called morbus gallicus, or the French disease. It was also called The Black Lion.
Comments
I am surprised it is not called the liberal disease today. Well, at least on Fox news.
The "Christian Disease" really is probably the closest to correct, in this case, given the disease's origin.
Christianity itself is the disease. Only perverts are Christians.
Jews never get venereal diseases because we are righteous and pure. From now on I'm calling AIDs, and Syphilis "Christian disease."
@ Issur, in that case, you are Christ Killer!! And you also eat the flesh of babies as well. (there were other things the jews were accused of but I forgot what they were)
Anyone who believes in god is either mental or an asshole. Word.
But Issur, as Carl Sagan said about god "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof". Where is the proof of your "god"?
I live in an spanish speaking country and we still write "Lues" on medical records if we have to put in on papers where non medical staff or other patients might see it. By the way, lots of it, and in pregnant girls, too.
The god of the Jews is in the Torah. The Jewish people existed before Torah was revealed.
Jewish people are the only people on earth with a true god. I am an atheist but I still believe that god created the Jewish people. In racist Seattle Jews have been forced to live in the ghetto around Volunteer park for a hundred years. Only recently have we been able to build a slightly better ghetto on Mercer Island. I hate Seattle and miss Manhattan, but some day Seattle will be like a big city and more accepting of it's oppressed Jewish minority.
I can't figure out if Issur is a Neo-Nazi trying to make the Jews look like ignorant assholes, or a Jew trying to goad people into racist responses by use of deliberately ignorant assholery. Thoughts?
#7; I don't know, but "In racist Seattle Jews have been forced to live in the ghetto around Volunteer park for a hundred years" was actually kinda funny.
#2--NOT a Christian disease--you're thinking of smallpox? Syphilis is the only disease that came from the New World to the Old World. (It was brought back to Europe in 1493 by Columbus' sailors.)
So--it had already been around for about 40 years before Fracastoro. The treatment was mercury, taken internally and applied to the skin, which made your teeth fall out, among other things.
Some historians think this early syphilis was a lot worse than it became later--so you had a decent number of people walking around without noses, etc.
I shall call it "Cupid's Disease" from this day forward...
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