A | Abasia-Astasia | Hysterical inability to walk or stand. |
---|---|---|
A | Abdominal Angina | Term used to describe recurrent, severe and sudden abdominal pain in the elderly. Probably diverticular disease/diverticulosis. |
A | Abdominal Phthisis | Tuberculosis of the abdominal lymph nodes. |
A | Ablepsia, Ablepsy or Abopsia | Blindness |
A | Abortion | Expulsion of a foetus before it is viable, i.e. miscarriage. When this results from the actions of the doctor, it is termed induced abortion or termination of pregnancy. The word abortion when used by doctors simply means an early end to a pregnancy, whether it is natural or effected by the actions of someone. |
A | Abortus Fever | Brucellosis |
A | Absinthism | Form of delirium tremens. Derives from absinthe, a cheap spirit which was consumed in abundance in France. |
A | Accouchement | Childbirth, labour, confinement |
A | Accoucheur | A man who acts as a midwife i.e. an obstetrician. |
A | Accoucheuse | A midwife |
A | Accubation | Childbirth |
A | Acescency | A tendency to sourness; incipient or slight acidity. |
A | Achor | Eruption on the scalp |
A | Actinic Rays | Ultra-violet light |
A | Acute | Describes any illness of sudden or recent onset or one that has reached a crisis. It does not indicate severity. |
A | Acute Angina | Sore throat |
A | Acute Indigestion | As a cause of death may mean a perforated ulcer or a heart attack. |
A | Acute Mania | Severe insanity |
A | Addisonian Pernicious Anaemia | See pernicious anaemia |
A | Aegrotantem | Illness, sickness |
A | African Fever | I suspect that this is malaria but this is based on a single case. |
A | Aglutition | Inability to swallow. N.B. do not confuse this term with agglutination which means glue together or as a medical word would mean clotting of blood. |
A | Agony | Literally means the violent struggle with death. |
A | Ague | Usually malaria but can be any feverish illness with fits of shivering. |
A | Ague Cake | Hardening of the spleen, resulting from malaria. |
A | Ainhum | Stricture resulting from minor cuts at the base of a digit eventually resulting in spontaneous amputation. |
A | Alastrim | A less virulent form of smallpox. |
A | Albuminuria | Presence of protein in the urine. Found in many kidney diseases e.g. diabetic nephropathy, hypertensive nephropathy, glomerulonephritis and nephrotic syndrome. |
A | Aleppo Boil | Cutaneous leishmaniasis |
A | Allopath | A doctor who practices conventional or mainstream medicine rather than homeopathy. |
A | Alvine | Pertaining to the bowels |
A | Alzheimer?s Disease | Form of dementia |
A | Amaas | Alastrim |
A | Amaurosis | Blindness (partial or complete) |
A | Amaurosis Fugax | Temporary blindness |
A | Ambustio | Latin for a burn or scald. |
A | Amelia | Congenital absence of a limb. |
A | American Plague | Yellow fever |
A | Anasarca | Generalised, massive, intractable oedema |
A | Anaxaemia | May mean a deficiency of all blood cell types or pancytopaenia. This may imply aplastic anaemia. |
A | Anchylosis | Ankylosis |
A | Ancome | An ulcerous swelling or whitlow. |
A | Aneurysm | A local ballooning of a blood vessel. Usually an artery. |
A | Angina | Literally means choking. Often used for angina pectoris i.e. pain from the heart. |
A | Anile | Of or like an old woman; imbecile. |
A | Ankylosis | Stiffness of a joint |
A | Anthracosis | Lung disease caused by inhalation of coal dust. A form of pneumoconiosis. |
A | Anthraw | Anthrax |
A | Aperient | A laxative medicine or food. |
A | Aphonia | Loss of voice i.e. laryngitis |
A | Aphtha | Thrush of the mouth. Usually of infants. |
A | Aphthous Stomatitis | Simple mouth ulcers |
A | Aplastic Anaemia | Total failure of the bone marrow to produce new blood cells. The cause is often unknown. |
A | Apnoea | Cessation of breathing. |
A | Apoplexy | ? A sudden loss of sensation and movement due to a disturbance of blood supply to the brain; a stroke.? With specifying word: a haemorrhage or failure of blood supply in another organ or any other sudden rapidly fatal disease. |
A | Arachnitis or Arachnoiditis | This is inflammation of the arachnoid (arachnoid mata) which is in the middle of three membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord, the blood supply of which is supposed to resemble a spider's web. |
A | Arteriosclerosis | Atherosclerosis |
A | Ascites | Abnormal collection of fluid within the abdomen. Often due to liver disease, especially secondary cancer, but can result from heart or kidney failure. |
A | Asiatic Cholera | True cholera. Used to distinguish cholera from cholera nostra or English cholera. |
A | Asphicsia, Asphycsia or Asphyxia | Suffocation i.e. lack of air or oxygen (literally means pulselessness) |
A | Asthenia | Weakness. May be a euphemism for pulmonary tuberculosis. |
A | Atavism | Heredity |
A | Ataxia | Inability to co-ordinate movement i.e. clumsiness. |
A | Atelectasis | Condition where lung alveoli do not contain air either because they have never been expanded or they have collapsed. |
A | Atheroma | This is the pathological lesion condition that causes atherosclerosis i.e. the furred up patch of the artery. |
A | Atherosclerosis | Commonly called hardening of the arteries. Almost everyone gets this condition eventually. The arteries fur up with plaques of cholesterol over which blood clots can develop and eventually fail to adequately supply blood. Leads to angina, heart attacks, strokes and gangrene of the limbs. It is more common in smokers, diabetics and those with high blood pressure. |
A | Athetosis | Writhing movements |
A | Atrium (plural Atria) | The upper smaller heart chambers. |
A | Atrophy | Wasting away or emaciation. Usually modified e.g. brain atrophy. |
A | Auricle (1) | The ear |
A | Auricle (2) | The atrium |
B | Bad Blood | Syphilis |
B | Barber?s Itch or Barber?s Rash | Infection of the hair follicles of the beard area. Transmitted via the shaving brush. May be impetigo. |
B | Barrel Chest | Chest deformity seen in emphysema. |
B | Barrel Fever | Vomiting or illness due to excessive consumption of alcoholic drinks. |
B | Baseborn | Illegitimate |
B | Bay Sore | Cutaneous leishmaniasis (Brazil) |
B | Bealed | Infected |
B | Bejel | Arabic term for endemic syphilis. |
B | Beriberi | Vitamin B1 deficiency |
B | Bilious Fever | Loose term for illnesses with vomiting, fever and sometimes jaundice. Could be typhoid, malaria, typhus or hepatitis. |
B | Biliousness (1) | Acute indigestion |
B | Biliousness (2) | Migraine |
B | Biliousness (3) | Vomiting of bile |
B | Biliousness (4) | Jaundice or other symptoms associated with liver disease. |
B | Biskra Button | Cutaneous leishmaniasis |
B | Black ~ | Black may be used before another term to indicate that it was very severe. |
B | Black Damp | Asphyxiating gas, largely carbon dioxide, accumulated in a mine, well, etc.. |
B | Black Death | Bubonic plague |
B | Black Dog | Depression. This term was used by Sir Winston Churchill to describe his depression. |
B | Black Fever | Acute infection with high temperature and dark red skin lesions and high mortality rate. |
B | Black Jaundice | Wiel?s disease. Disease with fever and jaundice. Caused by a germ found in the urine of rats and hence common in workers who work in dirty water such as miners and sewer workers. Birds can, rarely, be the source of infection. |
B | Black Lung | Disease from breathing coal dust. |
B | Black Plague | Bubonic plague |
B | Black Pox | Severe smallpox |
B | Black Vomit | Yellow fever |
B | Blackwater Fever | Severe form of malaria in which the urine contains so much blood it appears black. |
B | Bladder In Throat | Diphtheria |
B | Blood Poisoning | Septicaemia |
B | Bloody Flux | Dysentery |
B | Bloody Sweat | Sweating sickness |
B | Blue Baby | An infant with a bluish tint. Usually from a congenital heart defect in which venous blood (looks blue as the oxygen has been extracted) and arterial blood (looks red as it is rich in oxygen) are mingled. |
B | Bone Shave or Boneshaw | Sciatica |
B | Bowel Hive | Could be diarrhoea |
B | Brain Fever (1) | Meningitis |
B | Brain Fever (2) | Typhus |
B | Brain Shrinkage or Brain Wasting | Probably dementia |
B | Brassfounder?s Ague | Illness due to poisoning by fumes produced during the smelting and working of metals (not only brass which is an alloy of copper and tin). The likeliest metals to cause poisoning are lead, mercury and arsenic which may be present in the ores. |
B | Break Bone Fever | Dengue fever |
B | Bricklayer?s Itch | Eczema of the hands with much itching, occurring among bricklayers. Almost certainly caused by cement. |
B | Bright?s Disease | Bright's disease is often a catch all for kidney diseases, but strictly speaking is glomerulonephritis, which may be a complication of streptococcal sore throat. |
B | Brill?s Disease | Typhus |
B | Bromidism | Condition caused by over indulgence of potassium bromide, which was used as a sedative, to prevent fits and to diminish libido. |
B | Bronchial Asthma | Asthma |
B | Bronchial Catarrh | Acute bronchitis |
B | Bronchiectasis | Dilatation of the airways. Usually results from pneumonia in childhood. |
B | Bronze John | Yellow fever |
B | Brucellosis | Disease from drinking contaminated milk. Causes a feverish illness of variable duration and frequently depression. Goats can be the source in Malta and pigs in the U.S.A. and far east. |
B | Bubo | Inflamed, enlarged or painful gland in the groin. A symptom of bubonic plague. |
B | Bubonic Plague | Plague. An ancient illness referred to in the bible. I think the philistines made offerings of golden mice - whatever they are. Often referred to as the black death. |
B | Bule | Boil, tumour or swelling |
B | Bulimia | Excessive appetite |
C | C terms | Remember, certificates often include the words ?certified by?. |
C | Cachaemia | Any blood disease |
C | Cachexia | Emaciation (wasting) usually due to cancer or malaria. |
C | Cacoepy | Emaciation |
C | Cacoethes | Recurrent bad health |
C | Cacogastric | Indigestion |
C | Cacospysy | Irregular pulse |
C | Caduceus (1) | Symbol of the sword and intertwined snakes (herald's wand), which is the symbol of the medical profession. This symbol appears as this file?s icon on the desktop. |
C | Caduceus (2) | Some sources indicate that this means prone to falling or epilepsy. Caducous is a botanical term describing a plant that dies or sheds its leaves prematurely. |
C | Caisson Disease | The bends or decompression sickness. Mostly seen in divers but may be seen in workers underground. |
C | Calculus | A stone, such as a gallstone or kidney stone . |
C | Camp Diarrhoea or Camp Fever | Typhus |
C | Cancrum Oris | Gangrene of the cheeks and lips seen in debilitated children. Often fatal. |
C | Canine Madness | Rabies, hydrophobia |
C | Canker (1) | Any skin ulcer or sore but as the derivation of the word is the same as that for cancer it may suggest skin cancer. |
C | Canker (2) | Cancrum oris |
C | Carbuncle (1) | A large boil |
C | Carbuncle (2) | Skin cancer or other tumour |
C | Carcinoma | Cancer |
C | Carcinomatosis | Means that a cancer that has spread to places in the body distant to the primary tumour. |
C | Cardiac Asthma | This is not asthma at all, but is the old term for the sudden attacks of breathlessness at night suffered by people with heart failure.In heart failure, the oedema moves due to gravity to the lowest part. In the daytime, this is the lower leg resulting in swollen ankles. At night, the fluid moves again and will often move to the lungs (pulmonary oedema), so that people can drown in their own fluids.The modern term is paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnoea. |
C | Cardiac Dilation | Enlarged heart, probably heart failure |
C | Cardiac Insufficiency | Heart failure or could be a euphemism for old age. |
C | Cardioptosis | Means the heart lies lower than usual. Probably not a true cause of illness. |
C | Carditis | Inflammation of the heart wall. |
C | Caries | Destruction of bone. Dental caries is tooth decay. |
C | Carminative | A medication to relieve flatulence and colic. |
C | Catalepsy | Trance like state coming on suddenly as in a fit. Probably hysterical but some cases are genuine. |
C | Catamenia | The menstrual discharge or menstruation. |
C | Cataplasm | Poultice |
C | Cataplexy | Trance like state brought on by extreme fright, like a rabbit in a motor vehicle?s headlamps. |
C | Catarrh | ? Inflammation of any mucous membrane, but especially the air passages of the head, throat and lungs, with a copious discharge of mucus.? The mucus itself |
C | Catarrhal Bronchitis | Acute bronchitis |
C | Cathartic | Laxative |
C | Caul | The membrane surrounding a baby before it is born. It may not rupture at birth and cover the baby's head, which is supposed to be lucky. |
C | Cephalgia | Headache |
C | Cerebral | Of the brain |
C | Cerebral Disease | This term could be any brain disease. The commonest fatal brain diseases in adults are a stroke or in the past syphilis. |
C | Cerebral Softening | This term could be any brain disease. The commonest fatal brain diseases in adults are a stroke or in the past syphilis. |
C | Cerebritis | Inflammation of cerebrum or may indicate lead poisoning. |
C | Cerebro-Spinal Fever | Meningococcal meningitis |
C | Cerebro-Vascular Accident (CVA) | A stroke. In this context, accident means unexpected rather than misfortune. |
C | Chagres Fever | Malaria. Chagres is a place in Panama. |
C | Chalazeon | Cyst or abscess in a gland in the eyelid. |
C | Chalkstones (1) | Skin swellings near joints seen in gout (tophus). |
C | Chalkstones (2) | Skin swellings near joints seen in rheumatoid arthritis (rheumatoid nodules). |
C | Chicken Breast | May be the same as pigeon breast i.e. a chest deformity in which there is a little side-to-side flattening of the chest, so that the breastbone is more prominent. |
C | Chicleros Ulcer | Cutaneous leishmaniasis (Mexico) |
C | Chiggers or Chigoes | Tropical sand flea |
C | Chilblain | Swelling with itching and burning sensation of the extremities caused by exposure to cold. |
C | Child Bed Fever | Infection in the mother, following birth of a child. |
C | Chill Fever | Malaria |
C | Chills | Usually malaria but may also mean pneumonia. |
C | Chincough or Chin-Cough | Whooping cough |
C | Chiragra | Gout in the hand - literally hand pain |
C | Chirurgeon | Surgeon |
C | Chirurgical | Surgical |
C | Chloasma | Brownish discolouration of the skin. Mostly seen in pregnancy. |
C | Chlorosis | Anaemia. Usually simple iron deficiency but could also mean leukaemia or lymphoma. |
C | Choak | Croup |
C | Choke-Damp | Asphyxiating gas, largely carbon dioxide, accumulated in a mine, well, etc.. |
C | Cholecystitis | Inflammation of the gall bladder |
C | Cholelithiasis | Gall stones |
C | Cholera | An acute, often fatal, infectious disease with profuse diarrhoea, vomiting and cramps. Cholera spreads by faeces contaminated water and food, especially in overcrowded conditions. Rice water stools was felt to be a distinguishing feature in the past. |
C | Cholera Infantum | Common, non-contagious diarrhoea of young children, occurring in summer or autumn. Symptoms are those of cholera. It was common among the poor and in hand fed i.e. bottle fed babies. Death frequently occurred in three to five days. Probably due to food poisoning from spoiled milk as it was most common in hot weather in the southern USA. |
C | Cholera Morbus | Illness with vomiting, abdominal cramps and elevated temperature. Could be appendicitis. |
C | Cholera Nostras | An illness resembling cholera but not cholera itself. Also known as English cholera, true cholera may be called Asiatic cholera. |
C | Choleric Fever Of Children | Cholera infantum |
C | Chorea | Movement disorder seen in several diseases of the nervous system, characterised by jerky, fidgety movements ("dancing") that appear to be well co-ordinated but are performed involuntarily, chiefly of the face and extremities. |
C | Chrisomes | Chrisom means a shroud for babies under one month of age, so chrisomes probably means death of a very young baby (or a stillbirth). |
C | Chronic | Describes any illness that is long standing. It does not mean severe. |
C | Cicatrised | Scarred |
C | Cinchonism | Illness resulting from prolonged use of quinine. |
C | Cirrhosis | Hardening of an organ. Can occur in many organs. The liver will be the organ affected if cirrhosis is not qualified further.Cirrhosis of the liver may result from viruses (hepatitis), bacteria, metabolic defects and alcohol. In the past cirrhosis was attributed to malnutrition, but this is not likely. |
C | Clap | Gonorrhoea |
C | Clay | Tenement of clay is a euphemism for a corpse (Roget?s Thesaurus).House of clay, shroud of clay and simply clay are likely to be similar. |
C | Climacteric (Climacterick) (1) | The time (in women) after the menopause (strictly speaking the menopause is the first day of the last ever menstrual period). |
C | Climacteric (Climacterick) (2) | Pertaining to a critical period in human life. |
C | Climacteric (Climacterick) (3) | The period (in males and females) when fertility and libido are in decline. |
C | Clyster (1) | Injection |
C | Clyster (2) | Enema |
C | Coachman's Lung | Consumption |
C | Cocker | Pamper, indulge, coddle |
C | Cold Plague | Malaria |
C | Colic | A cyclical pain that builds to a peak and then eases. Comes from any tubular organ, so bowel colic, renal colic (more properly ureteric colic) biliary colic etc.. If unspecified, colic will mean a bowel pain. |
C | Coma-Vigil | State of impaired consciousness i.e. not fully conscious. Generally a pre-terminal event. |
C | Commotion | Concussion |
C | Confinement | The period of labour and delivery of the infant. |
C | Congenital | A condition or disease present at birth. May be genetic (e.g. Down?s syndrome) or acquired (e.g. Congenital syphilis) and may not be recognised at birth (e.g. Muscular dystrophy which probably will not be diagnosed until the child starts to walk). |
C | Congestion | An excessive or abnormal accumulation of blood or other fluid in a body part. |
C | Congestion of the Brain | Probably a stroke |
C | Congestive Chills or Congestive Fever | Malaria |
C | Consumption | A wasting away of the body, especially from pulmonary tuberculosis. |
C | Contagious | This term can cause confusion.? The correct, strict or pedantic definition is, a word used to describe an illness that can be passed from one person to another, but only by direct physical contact (touch). Doctors in the past will probably have used the word according to this strict definition. Most modern doctors will also adhere to this strict definition. Examples of contagious diseases using the strict definition:1. Head Lice (hair contact)2. Scabies (skin contact _ often holding hands)3. Gonorrhoea (sexual contact)? However, contagious is in established common usage to mean a disease that passes from one person to another by direct or indirect means. Examples of contagious diseases using this loose definition:1. All the diseases in the strict definition!2. Influenza (passed through the air by coughing and sneezing)3. Typhoid (passed through food or water that has been contaminated by the faeces of someone with typhoid). |
C | Contagious Pyrexia | Dysentery |
C | Contusion | Bruise |
C | Coprolalia | Involuntary or compulsive sounds or speech, which may be obscene. It notably occurs in Tourette syndrome but can result from other conditions too. |
C | Coprophagia | Ingestion of faeces |
C | Coral In His Hands | I have had a lot of correspondence about this term and have learned that rosary beads were often made of coral, especially after 1400.It could be that ?coral in his hands? refers to someone approaching death, as it was the custom for the dying to hold rosary beads in their hands. I suppose that this could apply to battle wounds as well as disease.I have read a definition that suggests it means to have died in battle, but I am now fairly sure that it means terminally ill.In the past, some believed coral to be a charm that could ward off ill health. There was also a legend amongst sailors that coral was the remnants of the skeleton of people lost at sea. |
C | Cordial | Related to the heart |
C | Cordial Decompensation | May mean heart failure, although I suspect it is a euphemism for old age. |
C | Cordis | Related to the heart |
C | Cordis Morbis | Heart disease |
C | Corruption | Infection |
C | Coryza | Common cold |
C | Costive | Constipated; elsewhere may mean reticent, slow, niggardly, etc.. |
C | Costivenness | Constipation |
C | Couvade | Custom in some cultures where expectant fathers experience symptoms of pregnancy and labour. |
C | Coxa | The hip |
C | Cramp Colic | Appendicitis |
C | Creeping Paralysis | Could be Guillain-Barr_ syndrome. This is a paralysis, which begins in the feet and spreads upward to the head. The cause is probably a virus. |
C | Cretinism | Mental retardation due to congenital under-activity of the thyroid.The condition is commonest when born far away from the sea, as seawater contains iodine, which is essential for the thyroid gland to work. Therefore, it is commonest in Switzerland in Europe and in the U.K. mainly in the Lancashire, Yorkshire and Derbyshire dales. Indeed, an acquired form of under-active thyroid disease due to dietary deficiency of iodine and causing swelling of the thyroid (or goitre) is often known as Derbyshire neck. |
C | Crop Sickness | The old definition is an overextended stomach from over eating. The crop is in fact the gullet, so it could mean reflux oesophagitis or hiatus hernia. |
C | Croup | Hoarse croaking cough associated with swelling of the larynx (voice box), trachea (windpipe) and bronchi in infants. Occurs in epidemics usually in autumn and is most often caused by a virus (parainfluenza virus). |
C | Cuban Itch | Alastrim |
C | Cubitus | See decubitus |
C | Curse (The) | Menstruation |
C | Cyanosis | Dark blue skin colour from lack of oxygen in blood or poor circulation to the skin. Most noticeable in the fingers, lips, tip of the nose and the ears. |
C | Cyesis | Pregnancy |
C | Cynanche | Any disease of the throat |
C | Cynanche Maligna | In an (elderly) adult this could be throat cancer but in a child is probably diphtheria or quinsy. |
C | Cynanche Tonsillaris | Quinsy |
C | Cynanche Trachealis | Croup (Early 1800s) |
C | Cystitis | Inflammation of the bladder |
D | D.T. (The D.T.s) | Delirium tremens |
D | Dandy Fever | Dengue |
D | Daster | A correspondent suggested to me that this term described a child with Downs?s syndrome, although I cannot find a source. It may derive from dastard, which originally meant fool rather than coward (as in dastardly). |
D | Day Fever | Fever lasting one day; sweating sickness. |
D | Debility | Literally, means lack of movement or staying in bed, but usually means simply illness, although it can imply weakness. Often used in nervous debility. |
D | Decay (of Nature) | Old age |
D | Decline | Tuberculosis (may of course have the usual meaning too) |
D | Decomposition | This has no precise medical definition. Infants have had this as their primary cause of death in the past. It probably means ?failure to thrive? i.e. prematurity, low birth weight or congenital deformity. |
D | Decrepitude | Feebleness due to old age |
D | Decubitus | Lying down (in bed). Cubito is Latin for recumbent. |
D | Decubitus Ulcer | Pressure sore, bed sore. |
D | Decumbiture | The time when a sick person takes to their bed. |
D | Delhi Boil | Cutaneous leishmaniasis |
D | Delirium Tremens | Confusion, restlessness, terror and hallucinations due to alcoholism especially during withdrawal. |
D | Dementia Praecox | Schizophrenia |
D | Dengue | Infectious fever endemic to India and other parts of Asia, but also found in Egypt and the West Indies. Caused by a virus and transmitted by the mosquito. |
D | Dentition | Cutting (eruption) of the teeth. |
D | Deplumation | Disease or tumour of the eyelids which causes hair loss of the eyebrow or lashes. |
D | Depression | Condition where a person?s mood is low or saddened. The severity is variable. It is a genuine psychiatric condition and does not mean simply unhappy.It may be mild, yet it can be so severe that victims have low self-esteem, hopelessness, marked introversion, reduced awareness of the outside world, sleep disturbance, reduced appetite, marked lethargy and lack of motivation. Sufferers are at risk of suicide, physical ill health from self-neglect or death from accidents as they are less aware of everyday dangers.Classically split into two forms:1. Reactive (or neurotic) depression i.e. a (generally prolonged) reaction to a life event such as bereavement, marital breakdown, unemployment etc.. This is a genuine illness and not the sadness that everyone will suffer when they experience these life events.2. Endogenous depression i.e. occurring spontaneously. This is also termed psychotic depression. In the classic nosology of this type of depression, there is no insight or awareness of the problem by the sufferer. Manic-depression or bi-polar affective disorder is a type of endogenous depression.In practice, the distinction between them not easy to apply to patients. It is not helpful either as it does not give a good indication of the outcome of the illness e.g. suicide risk. Episodes of depression may alternate with episodes of mania (bi-polar affective disorder). |
D | Derbyshire Neck | Goitre or swelling of the thyroid gland (in the front of the neck) see cretinism. |
D | Diabetes | Although diabetes (sugar diabetes or diabetes mellitus) is common and was documented in the 17th century, I have not encountered any old terms for it. |
D | Diary Fever | A fever that lasts one day. |
D | Diathesis | Susceptibility of a person to a type of illness e.g. bleeding diathesis. |
D | Diphtheria | ? An acute infectious disease usually confined to the upper respiratory tract (throat and nose) and characterised by the formation of a tough membrane attached firmly to the underlying tissue (usually the tonsils) that bleeds if removed. The organism responsible produces toxins that affect the circulation and may result in death.? In the nineteenth century the disease was occasionally confused with scarlet fever and croup. |
D | Distemper (1) | Disturbed condition of the body or mind; ill health, illness; a mental or physical disorder; disease or ailment. |
D | Distemper (2) | Disease usually of animals with malaise and discharge from nose and throat. |
D | Dock Fever | Yellow fever |
D | Domestic Illness | Mental breakdown, depression |
D | Dresser | Newly qualified hospital surgeon |
D | Dropsy (or Dropsey) | Oedema (fluid retention), often due to heart or kidney disease. Contraction of hydropsy. |
D | Dropsy Of The Brain | Encephalitis |
D | Dry Bellyache | Abdominal pains due to lead poisoning from medicines containing lead or other sources of lead. Was apparently common in the Caribbean from drinking "green rum" (result of the first distillation) as lead pipes were used between the boiling coppers. |
D | Dyscrasy | An abnormal body condition |
D | Dysentery | A number of disorders marked by inflammation of the intestines (especially of the colon) with evacuation of blood and mucus. There are two specific varieties:1. Bacillary dysentery2. Amoebic dysentery |
D | Dysorexy | Reduced appetite |
D | Dyspepsia | Acid indigestion |
D | Dysuria | Difficulty in or painful urination |
D | Dysury | Difficulty in or painful urination |
E | Eclampsia (1) | Toxaemia of pregnancy, which is classically the triad of raised blood pressure, albuminuria and oedema. In the late stages, convulsions occur. |
E | Eclampsia (2) | Any convulsion |
E | Eclampsy | Eclampsia |
E | Ecstasy A | Form of catalepsy characterised by loss of reason. |
E | Eel Thing | Erysipelas |
E | Effluxion | Means ?flowing out? but will generally mean bleeding. |
E | Effusion | Build up of fluid around an organ. |
E | Elephantiasis | Swelling of a limb caused by lymphatic obstruction. Leads to thickening of the skin (pachyderma) often used as a synonym for filariasis but may result from syphilis or recurring streptococcal infection (elephantiasis nostra). |
E | Elephantiasis Nostra | See Elephantiasis |
E | Embolism | Obstruction of an artery by something (the embolus) that has developed elsewhere in the body. The embolus is usually a blood clot, but may be fat globules, tumour cells, a foreign body or a bubble of air. The tissue receiving its blood from the blocked artery dies (infarcts). |
E | Emesis | Vomiting |
E | Emetic | Medicine used to induce vomiting. |
E | Emmanogogues | Medicine used to restore menstruation. |
E | Emphysema (1) | A chronic, irreversible disease of the lungs.The lung in emphysema is over-inflated and has larger air spaces than normal (it is like a natural sponge whereas a healthy lung is more like a synthetic sponge) the emphysematous lung has less surface area for oxygen exchange (a natural sponge will hold less water than a synthetic sponge) so the patient is breathless. The expanded air spaces may become so large (when they are called a bulla _ plural bullae) that they burst resulting in a pneumothorax. As the lung is over-inflated, the patient will have a fuller or ?barrel? chest.It usually results from asthma, obstruction of a major airway by inflammation or a tumour (air gets to the lung beyond the obstruction easier than it can get out) or collapse due to disease of another part of the lung (the healthy lung expands to fill the space formerly taken up by the diseased lung. In young people (under 30) emphysema may be inherited (alpha 1 anti-trypsin deficiency). |
E | Emphysema (2) | The finding of air in a tissue, when the occurrence of air is abnormal (or excessive) After surgery, air may get beneath the skin, which is termed surgical emphysema. |
E | Empiric | A person who practices medicine without formal training; a quack; a charlatan. |
E | Empyema | A collection of pus in any body cavity, but without qualification will be the pleural cavity i.e. the space between the lungs and the chest wall. |
E | Encephalitis | Inflammation of the brain |
E | Encephalocoele or Encephalocele | This means protrusion of brain tissue through a defect (hole) in the skull. It is usually a congenital condition, caused by the skull failing to form properly and is like spina bifida, but higher up. This is not compatible with life. |
E | Endocarditis | Disease of the heart valves. Commonly due to rheumatic fever in the past. |
E | Eneuresis Nocturna | Bedwetting |
E | English Cholera | An illness resembling cholera but not cholera itself. |
E | English Sickness | A Dutch term, the description of which sounds like rickets. |
E | Enteric Fever | Typhoid fever |
E | Enteritis | Inflammation of the bowels |
E | Enterocolitis | Inflammation of the intestines |
E | Enteroptoptosis | See visceroptosis |
E | Epidemic Catarrh | Influenza |
E | Epidemic Neuritis | Beriberi |
E | Epilepsy | A disorder of the nervous system, characterised either by mild, episodic loss of attention or sleepiness (petit mal) or by severe convulsions with loss of consciousness (grand mal). |
E | Epistaxis | Nose bleed |
E | Epithelioma | Malignant skin cancer, now called squamous cell carcinoma. Caused by sunlight. |
E | Eructation | Belching |
E | Erysipelas (1) | Will usually be a contagious skin disease, due to streptococcal infection in the skin and subcutaneous tissues. It can be fatal. Contaminated milk may rarely be the source. |
E | Erysipelas (2) | Saint Anthony?s fire (although this is a different illness entirely). |
E | Erysipeloid | Skin condition, resembling erysipelas occurring in butchers, fishmongers and cooks. Caused by the erysipelothrix of swine erysipelas. |
E | Erythaema Pernio | Chilblain |
E | Espundia | Cutaneous leishmaniasis (Brazil) |
E | Ether | Ether was one of the earliest (1842) anaesthetics (after nitrous oxide [laughing gas] and before chloroform). Ether is a liquid that was either soaked into a rag that was held over the mouth and nose or administered using equipment to distance the patient from the ether but expose them to its fumes. Ether is effective (it is still used today) but causes problems if mishandled. It can cause pneumonia either by its direct irritant effect on the lungs or as it tends to induce vomiting by aspiration of vomit. |
E | Euphoria (1) | Inappropriate happiness or laughing. Could be due to mania. |
E | Euphoria (2) | Inappropriate happiness or laughing. In servicemen could be due to shell-shock, battle fatigue, post engagement stress syndrome. |
E | Exacerbation | A deterioration in a condition, usually an acute episode of a chronic illness e.g. an acute episode of infection in chronic lung conditions. |
E | Exanthem or Exanthema | A rash. Acute exanthem will usually mean one of the children's infectious illnesses which have a rash (measles, rubella etc). Plural is exanthemata. |
E | Excision | Removal (by surgery) |
E | Excrescence | An unnatural or disfiguring outgrowth of the skin or any unnecessary physical development. |
E | Exhaustion | I think means a lingering death. Similarly, syncope is sudden death. The use of both of these terms is now frowned upon as they describe a mode of death whereas the certificate should indicate a cause of death or ideally a diagnosis. |
E | Extravasated | Describes blood outside the circulation. |
F | Fainting Fits | Probably a euphemism for epilepsy. |
F | Falling Sickness | Epilepsy |
F | Fatty Liver | Cirrhosis of the liver |
F | Fatuity | Imbecility, dementia |
F | Fauces | Area of the back of the mouth where the tonsils and adenoids are sited. |
F | Febres | Fever |
F | Febris | Fever |
F | Febris Nervosa | Latin for nervous fever i.e. typhus |
F | Febris Remittens | Malaria |
F | Febris Puerperalis | Childbed fever |
F | Felo De Se | Suicide by one of sound mind. |
F | Felon | A whitlow or any other festering sore. |
F | Fever and Ague | Malaria |
F | Fibrinous Angina | Sore throat resembling diphtheria but not fatal. |
F | Fibrinous Bronchitis | Chronic bronchitis or possibly asthma. |
F | Fibris | I have had several queries about fibris. I am confident that is a misspelling of febris (Latin for fever). |
F | Fistula | A pathological connection between structures that are not normally connected e.g. the bowel and the skin, the bowel and the bladder, the vagina and the bladder. |
F | Flooding | Uterine haemorrhage, possibly during childbirth. |
F | Flux (1) | An excessive flow or discharge of any of the bodies secretions or excretions. |
F | Flux (2) | Dysentery |
F | Foetid Bronchitis | Bronchiectasis |
F | Foetor Oris | Bad breath |
F | French Pox | Syphilis |
F | Frogg | Croup |
F | Fulmen | Latin for a crushing blow |
F | Fungus (1) | A type of microorganism causing problems like ringworm and athlete's foot. |
F | Fungus (2) | Can mean a tumour - especially skin cancer. Fungus in a medical sense means proud (i.e. protruding above the normal level) tissue. |
F | Furuncle | Boil |
G | Galloping Consumption | Pulmonary tuberculosis |
G | Gangrene | Death and decay of tissue in a part of the body usually a limb due to injury, disease, or failure of blood supply. |
G | Gangrenous Stomatitis | Cancrum oris |
G | Gangrenous Ulceration Of The Mouth | Cancrum oris |
G | Gastric (1) | Relating to the stomach |
G | Gastric (2) | Any digestive problem causing vomiting |
G | Gathering | A collection of pus |
G | General Paralysis Of The Insane | Syphilis of the brain. Causes dementia. |
G | General Yellow Jack | Yellow fever |
G | Glandular Fever | Mononucleosis or infectious mononucleosis |
G | Glass Pox | Alastrim |
G | Gleet | Established gonorrhoea in men.In early gonorrhoea, there is a copious yellow discharge from the urethra. In established gonorrhoea in men, the discharge is intermittent and less copious. Often, it is only observed on waking and this is termed gleet. |
G | Gout | Any inflammation due to the formation of crystals of sodium biurate caused by a build up of urate or uric acid (a waste product of protein metabolism) in the blood. It most often occurs in joints where circulation is poor (classically in the big or great toe) but can even cause gallstones or kidney stones and even kidney failure. |
G | Gout of the Stomach | I do not have source, but gout is a very painful form of arthritis and has the reputation of being an illness of people who consume rich food or lots of alcohol. Therefore, gout of the stomach could mean severe stomach pain after a rich meal, which would probably be a stomach ulcer. |
G | Granular Degeneration of the Liver | Cirrhosis |
G | Gravel | Passage of small stones formed in the kidney with the urine. |
G | Great Pox | Syphilis |
G | Great White Plague | TB |
G | Great White Plague | Tuberculosis |
G | Green Fever (1) | Anaemia (iron deficiency) |
G | Green Fever (2) | In the time of Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603) green fever was thought to be a condition of women due to delaying or absence of pregnancy. |
G | Green Sickness | Anaemia (iron deficiency) |
G | Grip | Influenza |
G | Gripe | Influenza |
G | Griped | With respect to the bowels: afflicted with spasmodic pain as if by contraction or constriction. |
G | Grippe | Influenza |
G | Grocer's Itch | Skin disease caused by mites (Tyrogluphus sacchari) in sugar or flour. |
G | Grog Blossoms | Pimples on the nose in acne rosacea. |
H | Haematemesis | Vomiting blood. The vomited blood may be partially digested and look like coffee grounds. |
H | Haematuria | Bloody urine |
H | Haemoptysis | Coughing up blood from the lungs. Likely to be due to TB or cancer. |
H | Haffets | The sides of the head i.e. the cheeks or temples. |
H | Hammer Nose | The swollen nose of acne rosacea. |
H | Hardening of the spleen | There are many causes, but in the past, this is likely to be malaria. |
H | Heart Dropsy (1) | Heart failure |
H | Heart Dropsy (2) | Hydropericardium (fluid in the sac that surrounds the heart). |
H | Heat Stroke | Body temperature elevates because of surrounding environmental temperature and body does not perspire to reduce temperature. |
H | Hectic Fever, Hectival Fever or Hectic Complaint | A daily recurring fever with profound sweating, chills, and flushed appearance often associated with malaria, pulmonary tuberculosis or, septicaemia. |
H | Hemiplegy or Hemiplegia | Paralysis of one side of body. Will nearly always mean a stroke. |
H | Hip Gout | Osteomyelitis |
H | Hippocratic Fingers | Finger clubbing. Club shaped deformity of the ends of the fingers is seen in long standing lung and heart problems. |
H | Hives (1) | Term for croup, laryngitis or other condition where there is breathing difficulty in the 1800s. I have only seen it applied to children. The term derives from heave which means that one?s stomach contracts as if you are going to vomit but you do not actually vomit. Origin is Scots. |
H | Hives (2) | In modern times, hives is a skin rash; namely, urticaria, nettle rash, prickly heat or even sweat rash. |
H | Hives (3) | An eruptive disease (varicella globularis) allied to chicken pox. |
H | Homeopath | A practitioner of homeopathy |
H | Homeopathy | A method of treating disease by prescribing very small amounts of a substance which, in maximum doses would produce symptoms of the disease being treated. e.g. to treat vomiting a homeopath would use very weak solutions of a substance that would cause vomiting if taken in large amounts. Homeopathic practitioners claim that the more dilute the solution the more potent it is. This does not make sense from a modern scientific viewpoint, but many people have had benefit from homeopathic remedies and there are many well established practices in mainstream medicine that are not understood or scientifically proven. |
H | Homesickness | See Nostalgia |
H | Horrors | Delirium tremens |
H | Hospital Fever | Typhus |
H | House of Clay | Tenement of clay is a euphemism for a corpse (Roget?s thesaurus).House of clay, shroud of clay and simply clay are likely to be similar. |
H | Humour | Hippocrates postulated a theory that disease was due to an imbalance of fluids or humours in the body. Hippocrates also believed that humours were responsible for personality traits and this theory is the origin of some descriptions of personality today.The humours described by Hippocrates were:(1) Phlegm (phlegmatic)(2) Blood (sanguine)(3) Yellow bile (choleric or jaundiced)(4) Black bile (melancholic).NB The eye contains two clear jelly-like structures called the aqueous humour and vitreous humour |
H | Hydatid Disease | Disease where cysts result from ingestion of the dog tapeworm. Cysts grow mainly in the liver and lungs, but can occur elsewhere. |
H | Hydronephrosis | Distension (by urine) of that part of the kidney (termed the kidney pelvis) that collects the urine. The urine would normally pass down the ureter to the bladder. The distension results from obstruction of the ureter. Obstruction of the ureter causes renal failure, so renal failure was the probable cause of death. There are many causes of obstruction of the ureter. |
H | Hydropericardium | Excessive fluid in the space around the heart leading to constriction of the heart. |
H | Hydrophobia | Rabies |
H | Hydropsy | Dropsy. Dropsy is a contraction of hydropsy. |
H | Hydrothorax | Fluid within the chest. Usually will mean fluid in the space around the lungs i.e. a pleural effusion. |
H | Hypertrophy | Enlargement of any tissue or organ, but not due to its natural growth. |
H | Hypochondria | Means an imagined ailment without physical evidence or an unnatural preoccupation with one?s health to such a degree that it dominates the sufferer?s life. It does not have (in a medical context) the every day meaning of a fear of ill health. True hypochondria is a debilitating symptom of severe mental illness like depression, severe anxiety or hysteria. |
H | Hypostatic Pneumonia | Pneumonia resulting from a prolonged period in bed. This is not a primary cause of death. The illness causing the confinement to bed is likely to be the fatal illness. |
H | Hypostrophe | A relapse of an illness |
H | Hysteritis | Inflammation of the uterus |
I | ~ itis | Suffix meaning inflammation |
I | Ichor | Leakage of fluid from a sore or wound (originally ichor was the blood of the ancient Greek gods). |
I | Icterus | Jaundice |
I | Ictus | Fit (convulsion), sudden pulsation or stroke |
I | Ictus Solis | May mean sunstroke |
I | Idiocy | Mental handicap (learning disability) of a severe degree |
I | Idiopathic | Means an illness where the cause is not known. |
I | Imbecility | Mental handicap (learning disability) of a mild degree. |
I | Impetigo | Contagious skin disease usually of the face characterised by pustules and yellow crusts. |
I | Inanition | Exhaustion from lack of nourishment. In the newborn, this could mean prematurity. |
I | Incubus (1) | A nightmare, especially one where you are so frightened that you cannot react. |
I | Incubus (2) | A distressing illness that comes on at night such as acute heart failure, asthma, gout etc.. |
I | Incubus (3) | A demon taking on male form to have sexual intercourse with a woman in her sleep. |
I | Infant | A child less than one year old. |
I | Infant Child | As a cause of death means stillborn or sudden infant death syndrome (cot death). |
I | Infantile Paralysis | Poliomyelitis (polio) |
I | Infantism | May mean mental handicap or learning disability . |
I | Infarct | The dead tissue resulting from infarction. |
I | Infarction | Death of part of a tissue or organ because its blood supply has been cut off e.g. myocardial infarct (heart attack). |
I | Inflammation | Redness, swelling, pain, tenderness, heat and disturbed function of an area of the body. In the last century, cause of death often was listed as inflammation of a body organ such as, brain or lung but this was purely a descriptive term and is not helpful in identifying the actual underlying disease. |
I | Inguinal | Relating to the groin |
I | Insolation | Generally means to dry out using sunlight (like sun dried tomatoes) but could mean sun-stroke or heat exposure. |
I | Intermittent Fever | Illness marked by episodes of fever with return to completely normal temperature. Usually malaria. |
I | Intussusception | This is where one part of the bowel telescopes into the next piece of bowel causing a blockage. |
I | Ischaemia | Deficient blood supply to an organ |
I | Ischaemic | Afflicted by ischaemia |
I | Ischaemic Heart Disease | Angina pectoris |
I | Ischury | Retention of urine. May be a complication of childbirth. |
I | Itch | Probably scabies |
J | Jail Fever | Typhus |
J | Jaundice | Yellow discoloration of the skin, whites of the eyes, and mucous membranes due to an increase of bile pigments in the blood, which spill out into the tissues. Bile pigments result from the breakdown of haemoglobin (the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen). Normally they are modified by the liver and secreted into the bile from where they pass (via the gall bladder) into the bowel and are secreted with the faeces (indeed it is the bile pigments that give faeces its colour). There are three types of jaundice:1. Pre-hepaticHere there is excessive breakdown of blood cells and the liver is unable to cope with the increased amount of bile pigments. Haemolytic jaundice is an alternative term.Examples: - mismatched transfusion, haemolytic disease of the newborn, sickle cell disease.2. HepaticHere the liver is diseased and cannot modify the bile pigments and secrete them into the bile.Examples: - hepatitis, cirrhosis, secondary cancer of the liver.3. Post-hepaticHere there is a blockage between the liver and the bowel. A cardinal sign is pale faeces accompanied by dark urine.Examples: - gallstones, carcinoma of the head of the pancreas. |
J | Jiggers | Chiggers |
J | Jungle Fever | Malaria |
K | Kaffir Pox | Alastrim |
K | Kakke | Beriberi |
K | Kala Azar | Visceral leishmaniasis |
K | Kandahar Sore | Cutaneous leishmaniasis |
K | King?s Evil | A popular name for scrofula. The term originated in the time of Edward the Confessor, with the belief that the touch of the King of England or drinking the water in which the King had washed his hands could cure the disease. |
K | Kink | Fit of coughing or choking |
K | Kinkcough | Whooping cough |
K | Kruchhusten | Whooping cough |
L | La Grippe | Influenza |
L | Laudable Pus | Term indicating that the discharge of pus from an infected wound is a good sign. |
L | Lead Poisoning | Causes paralysis of muscles in the limbs (often in a patchy pattern). In chronic exposure, there is anaemia and a blue line on the gums. If the amount ingested is great enough there may be colic or headache and acute or chronic encephalopathy, causing mental changes and fits. The picture may resemble porphyria (the portrayal of porphyria in the movie "Madness of King George" is accurate). |
L | Leishmaniasis | Infectious illness caused by a parasite transmitted by sandflies. There are two forms visceral (affecting internal organs) and cutaneous (affecting the skin) the former causes fever and enlargement of the liver, spleen and lymph nodes and the latter skin ulcers. |
L | Lepra | Leprosy |
L | Lepto-Meningitis | Inflammation of the inner covering membranes (arachnoid mata and pia mata) of the brain or spinal cord. |
L | Leuco-Cythemia | Leukaemia |
L | Leucorrhoea | Vaginal discharge |
L | Leukorrhoea | Vaginal discharge |
L | Lientery | Diarrhoea in which the faeces contain undigested food. |
L | Lineae Albicantes | Striae or marks on the abdomen (commonly called stretch marks) after pregnancy. |
L | Little's Disease | Spastic diplegia |
L | Lock-Jaw | Tetanus |
L | Locomotor Ataxia (Ataxy) | Syphilis of the spinal cord. The modern term is tabes dorsalis. |
L | Long Sickness | Tuberculosis |
L | Lues | Syphilis (Lues is Latin for plague) |
L | Lues Venera | Any venereal disease, but probably syphilis. |
L | Lumbago | Back pain |
L | Lung Fever (1) | Pneumonia |
L | Lung Fever (2) | Tuberculosis |
L | Lung Sickness | Tuberculosis |
L | Lupus Pernio | Form of sarcoidosis |
L | Lupus Vulgaris | Tuberculosis of the skin |
L | Lying In | Time of delivery of infant |
M | Malaria | Malaria (literally means bad air) is a widespread disease caused by a parasite in the blood.There are several parasites that cause the illness and hence several forms of malaria. All are Plasmodium species and the usual species are P falciparum, P vivax, P ovale and P malariae but there are others and it is possible to be infected by more than one.The anopheline mosquito transmits malaria. The mosquito lays its eggs in pools of standing water especially in those contaminated by sewage. Malaria used to be widespread and was found even in temperate areas like the UK, but improved sanitation has restricted the areas where the mosquito can breed successfully, so malaria is now only found in less sanitary areas of the world. Malaria causes episodes of fever called paroxysms. Classically the fever has three stages:-1. Cold Stage or rigor in which the patient shakes, often vomits and has a severe headache2. Hot Stage3. Sweating StageFollowing the paroxysm, the patient feels reasonably well for one or more days, but another paroxysm will follow unless the patient dies. Many have tried to classify the various forms of malaria on clinical or bedside methods based on the pattern of the paroxysm, the duration between the fever and associated symptoms. This is far from reliable but has resulted in the terms tertian fever, quotidian fever etc.. |
M | Malignant | In a medical context, means severe, dangerous or life-threatening (this will of course encompass the use of malignant when applied to cancers) and as doctors in the past did not fully understand the cause of disease and may have attributed it to witches, the devil etc this could be extended to the everyday meaning of evil. |
M | Malignant Fever | Typhus |
M | Malignant Purpuric Fever | Meningitis (meningococcal) |
M | Malignant Pustule | Anthrax |
M | Malignant Sore Throat | Diphtheria |
M | Malta Fever | Brucellosis |
M | Mania | Form of insanity characterised by elation, mental and physical restlessness, sleeplessness, excitement and grandiose delusions. |
M | Marasmus | Malnutrition occurring in infants and young children caused by an insufficient intake of food. This is starvation rather than disease caused by a specific deficiency in the diet like insufficient protein or vitamin deficiency. In the past it may mean failure to thrive or any wasting illness such as tuberculosis or cancer. |
M | Marsh Fever | Malaria |
M | Mayer | Physician |
M | Mediastinum | The space in the centre of the chest (thoracic cavity) between the lungs. The main organ in the mediastinum is the heart. Also contains the thymus and some other lymph structures. |
M | Mediterranean Fever | Brucellosis |
M | Melaena | Black or tarry stools. Caused by bleeding into the upper gut e.g. from a stomach ulcer |
M | Melancholia | Severe depression. Depression can be a fatal condition. As well as those who commit suicide, people who are severely depressed can neglect themselves to such a degree that they die or die as a result of an accident because they are divorced from the real world. |
M | Membranous Croup | Will nearly always be diphtheria. |
M | Meningitis | Inflammation of the meninges (a membrane covering the brain) characterised by high fever, severe headache, photophobia (dislike or fear of the light) and stiff neck or back muscles. |
M | Menorrhagia | Excessive menstrual bleeding. Can be severe enough to cause death from blood loss. |
M | Mesenteric Disease | Tuberculosis of lymph glands inside the abdomen. An illness of children caused by drinking milk from TB infected cows. Now uncommon as milk is pasteurised. |
M | Meteorism | Flatulent distension of the abdomen with gas in the gut. |
M | Metritis | Inflammation of uterus or purulent vaginal discharge. |
M | Miasma | Poisonous vapours thought to infect the air and cause disease. |
M | Miliaria | Sweat rash or prickly heat |
M | Milk Fever | Short lived fever which sometimes accompanies lactation. |
M | Milk Leg | Thrombosis of veins in the thigh usually seen after childbirth (at one time thought to be due to excess milk being directed to the leg). |
M | Milk Pox | Alastrim |
M | Milk Sickness | Poisoning resulting from the drinking of milk produced by a cow who had eaten a plant known as white snake root (USA). |
M | Mitral | The mitral heart valve is the passage between the left atrium and the left ventricle. The mitral valve has two leaflets (the other heart valves have three) and resembles a bishop?s mitre (origin of the term mitral). |
M | Mitral Insufficiency | Means that the mitral valve of the heart does not close properly and so leaks. This results in the heart working harder and to heart failure. The commonest causes of mitral regurgitation are rheumatic fever and high blood pressure.The leaking valve produces a heart murmur. The murmur is so distinctive, even the most junior or incompetent doctor would make the diagnosis with ease. |
M | Mitral Regurgitation | Means that the mitral valve of the heart does not close properly and so leaks. This results in the heart working harder and to heart failure. The commonest causes of mitral regurgitation are rheumatic fever and high blood pressure.The leaking valve produces a heart murmur. The murmur is so distinctive, even the most junior or incompetent doctor would make the diagnosis with ease. |
M | Mitral Stenosis | A narrowing of the mitral heart valve (usually due to rheumatic fever). |
M | Mollities Ossium | Osteomalacia |
M | Monthly Nurse | A midwife |
M | Morbilli | Measles |
M | Morbus | Disease |
M | Morbus Cordis | Means no more than heart disease. Probably used by doctors when they did not know the exact cause of death but were sure it was natural causes. May sometimes mean heart failure. |
M | Morbus Gallicus | Syphilis (The French disease) |
M | Mormal | Gangrene |
M | Morphew (1) | A skin eruption |
M | Morphew (2) | The blisters of scurvy |
M | Mortification | Used in the medical sense: gangrene, necrosis or severe infection (literally means put to death) . |
M | Mortis | Death |
M | Myalgia | Muscle pain |
M | Myelitis | Inflammation of the spinal cord |
M | Myocardial Degeneration | Means degeneration of heart muscle, but is often used as a euphemism for old age. |
M | Myocarditis | Inflammation of heart muscle |
M | Myocardium | Heart muscle |
M | Myxoedema | Describes the syndrome of under activity of the thyroid gland (hypothyroidism).NB pre-tibial myxoedema (a jelly like oedema of the shins) is a symptom of an over-active thyroid (hyperthyroidism). |
N | N Y D P | WW1 euphemism for shell shock (Not Yet Diagnosed Psychiatric). |
N | Natal Sore | Cutaneous leishmaniasis |
N | Natural Causes | Means a death not from homicide, accident or suicide. Probably issued by a coroner after an inquest. As most coroners are lawyers rather than doctors, the certificates they issue tend to be a verdict rather than a diagnosis. The policy in the UK is to destroy inquest records after 30 years, although some survive. Most UK inquests are reported by local newspapers but I don't think they are available abroad. |
N | Natural Decay | Old age |
N | Necrosis | Death of tissue |
N | Nephritis | Inflammation of the kidney |
N | Nephrosis | Any kidney degeneration |
N | Nervous Debility | Often a euphemism for depression or other emotional or mental disorders. |
N | Nervous or Nerve Fever | Typhus |
N | Nettle Rash or Nettlerash | Urticaria or hives. Nettle is a plant found in the UK (and elsewhere I suppose) that can sting the skin and causes an allergic rash. The medical term for this is urticaria and the lay term is hives. Allergy can be very debilitating and even life threatening as in anaphylaxis. |
N | Neuralgia | Sharp and paroxysmal pain along the course of a sensory nerve. |
N | Neurasthenia | Neurasthenia literally means weakness of the nerves. This is not a diagnosis. Often applied to women. The term is used nowadays more as a description of a person's personality than their illness. It can be derogatory. It is a euphemism for stupid, emotional, neurotic or inadequate (women were thought of thus in the past) it can also mean depression or feeble minded or even mental handicap. Probably used in a similar way in the past. It is a way of using a medical sounding word to describe a problem that is not an illness. |
N | Neurosis or Neurotic | In a psychiatric context, means a long standing mental health disorder in which the sufferer realises that they are unwell (i.e. they have insight into their condition). |
N | Noma | Cancrum oris |
N | Nosology | Branch of medicine concerned with the classification of disease. |
N | Nostalgia | Homesickness, especially a severe and sometimes fatal form of melancholia but also a longing for the comforts of home or to return home. In a military setting, this is probably shell shock or battle fatigue. It resulted in many soldiers being shot for treason as their illness lead them to becoming deserters. |
O | Obit | Death or dead |
O | Occult | In a medical sense, means hidden or unknown, so occult malignancy, occult bleeding etc.. |
O | Oedema | Fluid (water) retention. May be due to heart or kidney failure. |
O | Old Age | In this technological age, some feel that people must have an illness to cause their death. Many death certificates show an imprecise diagnosis (myocardial degeneration, morbus cordis, multiple organ failure etc) as the attending doctor feels obliged to conform to this view. Some, however, accept that some elderly people do, in fact, die simply of old age. The registrars in the UK are happy to accept old age as a cause of death. The use of the term old age or any of its euphemisms does not indicate that the attending doctor did not know the cause of death. Rather he (or she) was being honest. |
O | Ophthalmia | Eye disease |
O | Organic | Indicates an illness where there is structural change i.e. a physical disease rather than a psychological one. |
O | Organic Brain Disease or Syndrome | Dementia |
O | Oriental Boil | Cutaneous leishmaniasis |
O | Osteitis Deformans | Paget's disease (of bone). Living bone is constantly broken down and replaced by new bone. In Paget's disease, the bones become weak, distorted and enlarged because of disorder in the remodelling process. Seldom seen under the age of 50.NB Paget also described a disease of the skin and of the female nipple and these conditions are also called Paget?s disease. |
O | Otalgia | Ear pain |
P | Pachyderma | Thickening of the skin |
P | Painter?s Colic | This could be acute lead poisoning as in the past, paint contained lead. Lead poisoning results from swallowing lead, but I doubt that anyone would voluntarily swallow paint! Colic is not a symptom of chronic lead poisoning. Could be due to accidental poisoning by lead containing chemicals in someone making their own paint. |
P | Pythogenic Fever | Typhoid |
P | Palsy | Paralysis or difficulty with muscle control - often modified as in Bell's palsy, cerebral palsy etc.. |
P | Paludism | Malaria (derives from palus the Latin word for marsh) |
P | Panada | Bread boiled in water to a pulp and flavoured - a food for invalids. |
P | Panama Fever | Malaria |
P | Papula | Pimple (or taste bud). The English term is papule. |
P | Papulae | Plural of papula. The English plural is papules. |
P | Paralysis Agitans | Parkinson's disease |
P | Paralysis of the Insane | General paralysis of the Insane i.e. syphilis |
P | Paravariola | Alastrim |
P | Parenchyma | The tissue that performs the function of an organ as opposed to the tissue that provide support (this is called the stroma). |
P | Parenchymatous | See parenchyma |
P | Paristhmitis | Quinsy |
P | Parotitis (1) | Mumps (see Parotitis (2)) |
P | Parotitis (2) | Inflammation or swelling of the parotid gland (a pair of saliva producing glands in the cheeks). The commonest cause is mumps so parotitis is often a synonym for mumps. |
P | Paroxysm | Usually means a convulsion (fit). Paroxysmal means anything that happens suddenly or unexpectedly. |
P | Paroxysmal Fever | Malaria |
P | Parturition | Labour or the process of childbirth (generally only used when pregnancy had reached its term i.e. 40 weeks). |
P | Pellegra | Nicotinic acid (one of the B vitamins) deficiency |
P | Pemphigus | Skin disease of watery blisters |
P | Penny Pots | Pimples on the nose of a heavy drinker. Probably acne rosacea. |
P | Pericarditis | Inflammation of the pericardium, which is a membrane surrounding the heart. |
P | Periodic Fever | Malaria |
P | Peritonitis | The peritoneum is a large, convoluted membrane that surrounds the abdominal digestive organs. Peritonitis is inflammation of this membrane and the cavity it contains. This is a life threatening condition even in modern times. Cure will usually require surgery. There are two forms:-1. Primary peritonitis which results from spread of bacteria, via the blood, to the peritoneal cavity. This form is uncommon and TB may produce it.2. Secondary peritonitis: - which results from rupture or perforation of a diseased digestive organ (e.g. peptic ulcers, appendicitis, cancers), which releases food, digestive juices, stomach acid or faeces into the peritoneal cavity. |
P | Perityphilitis | Appendicitis |
P | Perl?che | Cracked sores at the angles of the mouth. |
P | Pernicious Anaemia | Anaemia caused by vitamin B12 deficiency. B12 is also important for the health of the nervous system. Animal products, including fish and eggs are the main source of B12.? Deficiency from an inadequate diet is unusual except is strict vegans. In the UK it is mainly seen in Asian immigrant women.? A chemical called intrinsic factor (produced by the stomach) is necessary for B12 to be absorbed. Failure to produce adequate amounts of intrinsic factor (a.k.a. addisonian pernicious anaemia) is a more common cause of pernicious anaemia in Western societies. As intrinsic factor is not available as a drug/supplement, B12 injections are given. There is an increased incidence of stomach cancer in people with this form of pernicious anaemia. This form of pernicious anaemia is an auto-immune disorder and can be familial. |
P | Pertussis | Whooping cough |
P | Pestis | Bubonic plague |
P | Petechial Fever (1) | Typhus |
P | Petechial Fever (2) | Meningitis (meningococcal) |
P | Petu or Petun | Old terms for tobacco |
P | Philippine Itch | Alastrim |
P | Phimosis | Tight foreskin |
P | Phlegmasia Alba Dolens | Thrombosis of veins in the thigh usually seen after childbirth. Death probably resulted from a piece of clot breaking off and moving to the lung (pulmonary embolus). |
P | Phlegmon | An inflammatory swelling suck as a boil or abscess. |
P | Phossy Jaw | Destruction of the jawbone by phosphorus poisoning. Seen in workers in match factories. |
P | Phrenitis | Inflammation of the brain |
P | Phthiriasis | An infestation with lice |
P | Phthisis (1) | Literally, means a wasting disease but almost invariably will mean pulmonary tuberculosis. |
P | Phthisis (2) | Any debilitating lung or throat affections; a severe cough; asthma. |
P | Phthisis Pneumonalis | Pulmonary TB |
P | Phthysis | See phthisis |
P | Phymosis | Phimosis |
P | Pica | Abnormal craving to eat unusual things such as chalk, hair or faeces. |
P | Pigeon Chest or Breast | Chest deformity usually seen in rickets. |
P | Pink Disease | Disease of teething infants due to mercury poisoning from teething powders. |
P | Pinta | Disease that resembles endemic syphilis occurring in Central and South America and some West Indian and South Pacific Islands. |
P | Plague | Any infectious disease with a high mortality rate, although will often mean bubonic plague. |
P | Plaque | An old term for blood platelets |
P | Plastic Bronchitis | Chronic bronchitis or possibly asthma |
P | Plethora | In a medical context, this means excessive blood. |
P | Plethoric | Having a high colour or a ruddy complexion. |
P | Pleurisy or Pleuritis | Inflammation of the pleura i.e. the membrane that surrounds the lungs. |
P | Podagra | Gout (literally foot pain) |
P | Poker Back | Ankylosing spondylitis |
P | Potter?s Asthma | Emphysema (common in potters in the past). I have seen tuberculosis given as an interpretation, but I prefer emphysema, as this could be an industrial disease whereas TB depends on housing conditions. |
P | Pott?s Disease | Tuberculosis of the spinal vertebrae (bones) |
P | Pox | Usually syphilis |
P | Pre-Eclampsia | Mild eclampsia. Symptoms are oedema, raised blood pressure and protein in the urine. If not treated could progress to eclampsia. See eclampsia. |
P | Prostate | The prostate is a (male only) organ at the base of the bladder. |
P | Protein Disease | Nephrotic syndrome. A once relatively common childhood kidney disease that causes the kidney to leak protein. Often a complication of streptococcal infection. |
P | Pseudo Leukaemia | Hodgkin's disease (lymphoma) |
P | Pseudo Smallpox | Alastrim |
P | Pseudo Variola | Alastrim |
P | Psora | Scabies |
P | Psychosis | Term that generally denotes mental illness of a severe degree. In a strict medical context means that that the sufferer?s insight or perception of the illness is impaired. |
P | Puerperal Exhaustion | Death due to childbirth |
P | Puerperal Fever or Septicaemia | Infection after childbirth due to poor midwifery techniques especially antiseptic measures. Infection entered through injuries to the birth canal leading to septicaemia and often to death. Occurs within 3 weeks of childbirth. |
P | Puking Fever | Milk sickness |
P | Pulmonalis | Relating to the lungs |
P | Pulmonary Apoplexy | Could be a pulmonary embolus or a severe asthma attack. |
P | Purples | Purpura. This is a rash due to spontaneous bleeding in to the skin i.e. bruises. There are many causes. The age of the victim would be relevant. Pinhead sized bruises are called petechiae.In the first month of life, the likeliest cause is haemorrhagic disease of the newborn. Caused by deficiency of vitamin K, necessary for blood clotting. Much of our requirement of vitamin K comes from bacteria in the bowel, but babies do not have enough of these bacteria in the first few weeks of life. Human breast milk is a poor source of vitamin K. All babies born in the UK receives an injection of vitamin K shortly after birth. Another rare cause of purpura in a neonate is congenital toxoplasmosis.In older children there are very many causes, so without a lot of info it would be difficult for me to give a precise cause of death (deaths in the family at the same time may be relevant). Haemophilia is an unlikely cause as in this condition bleeding occurs after trauma (albeit minimal) rather than spontaneously.A book of 1564 includes in it's description of purples "butterfly rash" which could mean systemic lupus erythematosis or acne rosacea. |
P | Putrid Fever (1) | Typhus |
P | Putrid Fever (2) | Diphtheria |
P | Putrid Flux | Probably bacillary dysentery |
P | Putrid Sore Throat | Ulceration of the tonsils or diphtheria |
P | Pyaemia | Septicaemia |
P | Pyelitis | Infection or disease of the renal pelvis i.e. that part of the kidney where urine collects before it passes down the ureter to the bladder. |
P | Pyrosis | Heartburn |
Q | Quaternary Fever | Form of malaria with peaks of fever occurring every fourth day. |
Q | Quincke?s Disease | Angioneurotic oedema _ a severe and potentially fatal allergic reaction. |
Q | Quinsy or Quinsey | Pus-filled swelling (i.e. an abscess) in the soft palate around the tonsils, usually as a complication of tonsillitis. |
R | Rachitic | Relating to rickets |
R | Rachitic Rosary | Swelling of the joints between the ribs and the breast-bone seen in rickets (looks like a necklace). |
R | Rag-Picker?s Disease | Anthrax |
R | Railway Spine | Back injury with injury to the spinal cord (common in railway workers). |
R | Ramollissement | Means a morbid softening of a tissue or organ. |
R | Remitting Fever | Malaria |
R | Rheumatism | Any disorder associated with pain in joints. |
R | Rickets | Disease of skeletal system due to vitamin D deficiency in childhood. |
R | Rising of the Lights | Croup |
R | Rodent Ulcer | Type of skin cancer (basal cell carcinoma) |
R | Rose | Erysipelas |
R | Rose Cold | Hay fever or nasal symptoms of an allergy |
R | Rose Spots | Characteristic rash seen (often briefly) in typhoid fever. |
R | Roseola | Rash seen in the secondary stage of syphilis. |
R | Roup | Croup (Scotland _ originally croup was the Scots term for the pip, which is a disease of poultry). |
R | Rubella | German measles |
R | Rubeola | Can be measles or German measles |
R | Rx | This should be a symbol resembling an R and an x combined. It appears at the start of a prescription. It is an abbreviation for recipe, which is Latin for ?take thou?. |
S | ~ stomy | Suffix meaning to surgically create an opening e.g. Colostomy, gastrostomy, urostomy etc.. |
S | Samoan Pox | Alastrim |
S | Sanguinous Crust | Scab |
S | Sarcoma | Malignant tumour similar to carcinoma but arising from connective tissue (usually bone or muscle), rather than glandular tissue. Tends to afflict younger people than carcinoma. |
S | Scarlatina | A sore throat with a rash that resembles scarlet fever but is less severe. |
S | Scarlet Fever or Scarlet Rash | Acute and potentially fatal infectious fever with rash caused by haemolytic streptococcus infection in the throat. The rash results from toxins produced by the haemolytic streptococcus. Rarely contaminated milk may be the source. |
S | Schirroma | Probably sarcoma |
S | Scirrhous | Refers to a growth, often malignant, which was hard and strong due to dense fibrous tissue. A hard tumour is likely to be a sarcoma. |
S | Scirrhus | A large, hard and painless swelling, often cancer. |
S | Scorbutus | Scurvy |
S | Scotoma (1) | A blind spot in the visual field which may be natural (each eye has a blind spot) or due to disease of the visual system (can be in the eye or the brain _ the visual image is received by the eye but we ?see? with our brains). |
S | Scotoma (2) | Disturbance of vision causing dizziness |
S | Screws | Rheumatism |
S | Scrivener's Palsy | Writer's cramp |
S | Scrofula | Primary tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands, especially those in the neck. A disease of children and young adults. |
S | Scrofuloderma | Skin disease resulting from TB in an underlying organ especially bone or lymph gland. |
S | Scrumpox | Impetigo |
S | Scunner | This is a Scots slang term.In modern use, it is a term of abuse or derision as in ?ye wee scunner? I have seen and heard ?ye wee scunner? used and feel it is a mild term that will equate to scamp, imp etc..However, the definition given in Cassel?s Dictionary of Slang is ?abomination? which could refer to someone who was physically deformed from birth or because of an accident. It could also mean any fatal or serious condition as abomination infers influence of the devil or evil. |
S | Scurvy | Lack of vitamin C. Symptoms are weakness, spongy gums and haemorrhages under skin. |
S | Senectus | Old age |
S | Senile Decay | Old age |
S | Septic | Infected |
S | Septicaemia | Blood poisoning |
S | Sequestrum | Piece of dead bone |
S | Serum Sickness | Anaphylaxis |
S | Shakes (The Shakes) (1) | Delirium Tremens |
S | Shakes (The Shakes) (2) | Malaria |
S | Shaking Chills | Malaria |
S | Shaking Palsy | Parkinson's disease |
S | Shingles | Viral disease with painful skin blisters in a band or line on the body. Caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox (varicella zoster _ zoster is Greek for girdle). |
S | Ship Fever | Typhus |
S | Shroud of Clay | Tenement of clay is a euphemism for a corpse (Roget?s thesaurus).House of clay, shroud of clay and simply clay are likely to be similar. |
S | Sigmoid | Means ?s? shaped. Will usually refer to the sigmoid colon, which is the section of the bowel above the rectum. Term derives from the Greek letter sigma. |
S | Silicosis | Lung disease caused by breathing in mineral dust. |
S | Simple Angina | Sore throat |
S | Siriasis | Inflammation of the brain due to sun exposure. |
S | Sivvens | Scots term for endemic syphilis |
S | Sloes | Milk sickness |
S | Slough | Infected tissue that has died and separated from healthy tissue. |
S | Slow Fever | Could be "the slows", although I think the slows is a US term and slow fever has been mentioned in the UK. |
S | Slows (The) | Milk sickness |
S | Smallpox | Contagious viral disease with fever and blisters. Now eradicated. Incubation period was 7 to 14 days. Several degrees of severity (in increasing order) discrete, confluent, haemorrhagic and malignant. |
S | Softening of the Brain (1) | General senility |
S | Softening of the Brain (2) | General paralysis of the insane, which is syphilis of the nervous system |
S | Softening of the Brain (3) | I have seen suggestions that softening of the brain could mean a stroke but I am not confident of the sources. |
S | Sore Throat Distemper (1) | Diphtheria |
S | Sore Throat Distemper (2) | Quinsy |
S | Spanish Disease | Syphilis |
S | Spanish Influenza | Epidemic influenza |
S | Spastic (1) | This has a simple meaning when used by doctors, i.e. stiffness of muscles or joints, but it has an outmoded (and offensive) definition too (see Spastic (2)). |
S | Spastic (2) | Cerebral palsy |
S | Speckled Dick | May be typhus |
S | Splanchmoptosis | See visceroptosis |
S | Splenic Fever | Anthrax in animals (other than humans) |
S | Splints | Describes an illness where there are swellings on the ribs. This could be rickets, where there is swelling of the ribs where they join the breast bone (looks rather like a necklace, so is often called a rachitic rosary). |
S | Spotted Fever (1) | Typhus |
S | Spotted Fever (2) | Occasionally meningococcal meningitis |
S | Spring Nettle | Nettle rash |
S | Sprue | Chronic malabsorption with sore tongue, indigestion, weakness, anaemia and greasy stools. |
S | Squinacy or Squinancy | Quinsy |
S | St. Anthony?s Fire (1) | Skin disease caused by toxins from fungal poisoning (ergot poisoning). The fungus grows on cereals especially rye and barley (particularly in wet weather) and the toxins are not destroyed by cooking.Saint Anthony was supposed to cure it miraculously. Ergot poisoning may explain the diagnosis of demonic possession or witchcraft in the middle ages. Some think it the origin of the Salem witch trials. |
S | St. Anthony?s Fire (2) | Erysipelas |
S | St. Vitus Dance | Ceaseless occurrence of rapid jerking movements performed involuntary. Complication of streptococcal infection. A pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Vitus (patron saint of dancers) was supposed to cure the condition. |
S | Stenosis | Narrowing of a tubular structure, e.g. a blood vessel, the gut. |
S | Stillbirth | Means death of an infant before the 28th week of pregnancy (UK definition _ other countries will differ). The infant may have been born dead or born alive.Since 1927 stillbirths have been registered by the in the UK by the GRO, but this is a registration of birth not death. |
S | Stitches | Pleurisy |
S | Stock Shock | This term was used in Kentucky and may be some kind of animal related accident or head injury. |
S | Stomatitis | Inflammation of the mouth |
S | Stranger's Fever | Yellow fever |
S | Strangery | See strangury |
S | Strangury | Painful urination or may mean rupture |
S | Stroma | The tissue that supports an organ as opposed to the tissue that performs its function (this is called the parenchyma). |
S | Strophulus (1) | Sweat rash |
S | Strophulus (2) | Prickly heat |
S | Struma | Goitre (swelling of the thyroid gland at the front of the neck) |
S | Stuffing | Croup |
S | Sudor Anglicus | Sweating sickness |
S | Suffocative Breast Pang | Angina pectoris |
S | Suffocative Catarrh | Croup |
S | Summer Complaint | Cholera infantum |
S | Sunstroke | Uncontrolled elevation of body temperature due to high environmental heat. Lack of sodium in the body is a predisposing cause. |
S | Suppuration | The production of pus. |
S | Surfeit or Surfit | Means vomiting from over eating or gluttony. If someone does not eat for a while and then eats a large meal, they can become very ill and gluttony could imply obesity. I like obesity as a better explanation. |
S | Swamp Fever | Usually malaria but could be typhoid or encephalitis. |
S | Swamp Sickness | Usually malaria but could be typhoid or encephalitis. |
S | Sweating Sickness | Infectious & fatal disease common to the UK in the 15th century. This could be influenza. |
S | Sycosis (Barbae) | Barber's itch |
S | Sydenham?s Chorea | St. Vitus dance |
S | Syncope | Means sudden loss of consciousness, as in a faint. Syncope has been is given as a primary cause of death. Syncope is a description of a mode of death rather than a cause of death or diagnosis. As a cause of death syncope means ?dropped down dead?.On death certificates, it probably just indicates a sudden death. Similarly, exhaustion is a lingering death.The use of both of these terms is now frowned upon as they describe a mode of death whereas the certificate should indicate a cause of death. |
S | Synochus | Continued fever. Term does not imply cause of the fever. |
S | Syphilis | It occurs in two forms namely endemic syphilis and venereal syphilis. Endemic syphilis is only included for completeness, it is the venereal form that most ancestors suffered from or died of.1. Syphilis (Endemic): Only occurs in areas where there is lack of hygiene and these days, only occurs in the tropics. In the past it was more widespread. The causative organism is the same as the one that causes venereal syphilis (treponema pallidum) but it is a modified strain. Spreading is usually person-to-person through a graze but transmission can be by flies or by sharing cups. Although it may be transmitted sexually, it is uncommon, as is congenital infection.2. Syphilis (Venereal): This is the form of syphilis that most ancestors will have suffered from or died of. The organism treponema pallidum is the cause. Transmission is only by sexual activity or from mother to unborn child.Syphilis was not curable until the discovery of penicillin (1928). |
T | ~tomy | Suffix meaning surgical cutting e.g. craniotomy, tracheotomy, cholecystectomy etc .. |
T | Tabes Dorsalis | Syphilis of the spinal cord |
T | Tabes Mesenterica | Tuberculosis of lymph glands inside the abdomen. An illness of children caused by drinking milk from TB infected cows. Now uncommon as milk is pasteurised. |
T | T?che Crbrale | Red line on the forehead seen in tuberculous meningitis. |
T | TB | Tuberculosis |
T | Teething | Cutting teeth. Often reported as a cause of death in infants.Cutting teeth is a natural process and not a disease (it does not cause problems in older children and young adults when the second teeth erupt), so teething cannot be a cause of death.In infants in the past, infection was the usual cause of death so ?teething ? could be a missed infection (from contaminated weaning foods?). Weaning usually occurs at teething.Other possibilities are malnutrition (from poverty, ignorance or neglect) dental infection from inappropriate weaning foods or could be cot death (the correct term for this is sudden infant death syndrome). |
T | Tenement Of Clay | A euphemism for a corpse. |
T | Tenesmus | Painful and unsuccessful desire to defaecate. |
T | Tertian Fever | Form of malaria with peaks of fever every third day. |
T | Testaceous Powders | Medicinal powders prepared from the shells of animals. |
T | Tetanus | An infectious, often-fatal disease caused by a specific bacterium (clostridium tetani) that enters the body through wounds. Causes severe muscle spasms especially of the jaw muscles. Soil, manure and the mouths of cattle are the usual sources. It would not usually be present in the mouths of cats and dogs although it may be on their claws. |
T | Tetanus Neonatorum | Tetanus in the newborn, due to infection of the umbilical cord stump, following birth in unhygienic conditions. |
T | The Shakes (1) | Delirium Tremens |
T | The Shakes (2) | Malaria |
T | Thorax | The chest |
T | Throat Fever | Probably diphtheria |
T | Thrombosis | Blood clot inside blood vessel |
T | Thrush | Candida of the mouth or genitals. Off white spots and ulcers occur on the mucous membranes of the mouth, tongue and fauces (this is the area at the back of the mouth where the tonsils are) and also of the genitals caused by a parasitic fungus (candida albicans) in the past would usually affect those debilitated by disease or extremes of age. |
T | Thyrotoxicosis | Over-activity of the thyroid gland |
T | Tick Fever | Rocky mountain spotted fever |
T | Tinea Sycosis | Infection of the hair follicles of the beard area. |
T | Tisick | A cough |
T | Tissick | A cough |
T | Tokens | See purples |
T | Tokology | Obstetrics or midwifery |
T | Tophi | Plural of tophus |
T | Tophus | Swelling seen near joints or in cartilage (especially the external ear) in gout. |
T | Tormina | Acute wringing pains in the abdomen; colic, gripes. |
T | Toxaemia of Pregnancy | Eclampsia (high blood pressure oedema and seizures in pregnancy) |
T | Trench Fever | Typhus |
T | Trench Mouth | Painful ulcers found along gum line, caused by poor nutrition and poor hygiene. |
T | Trismus | Tetanus. Strictly speaking this is the inability to open the mouth because of spasm of the chewing muscles i.e. it is a symptom of tetanus. |
T | Trismus Nascentium | Tetanus neonatorum |
T | Trismus Neonatorum | Tetanus neonatorum |
T | Tuberculated Liver | Probably cirrhosis of the liver |
T | Tumid | Swollen, inflated, protuberant, bulging |
T | Tussis Convulsiva | Whooping cough |
T | Typhilitis | Appendicitis |
T | Typhoid Fever | An infectious fever caused by contamination of food or water either directly by sewage or indirectly by flies or a person who is a carrier. Person to person spread is not usual. Causes severe diarrhoea. If untreated mortality is high. |
T | Typhus | Infectious fever characterised by high fever, headache, constipation, bronchitis and rash (due to tiny haemorrhages in the skin). The epidemic or classic form is louse borne (the human louse); the endemic or murine is flea borne. Although murine suggests the mouse, the rat flea is in fact the agent of transmission. |
U | Ulcus | Ulcer |
U | Undulant Fever | Brucellosis |
U | Unknown (Causes) | People die, without having suffered an illness for which they have attended a doctor. In the UK, it is possible to register a death when a doctor has not attended. These days, the coroner would probably order a post mortem (autopsy), but in the past, especially in remote areas, in the absence of any suspicion that the death was due to an unnatural cause it could be registered as unknown causes.Most countries have legislation that allows for, after a certain interval, the registration of death for people who disappear. Unknown or missing presumed dead will be the cause of death in such circumstances. |
U | Unwell | May mean menstruation |
U | Uraemia | Excessive amounts of urea (a waste product derived from protein) in the blood. The usual cause is renal (kidney) failure. |
U | Uta | Cutaneous leishmaniasis (Peruvian Andes) |
V | Vac. | This has appeared as part of a cause of death. I suspect it is an abbreviation of the Latin word Vacillo, which means to hesitate, but also means, "to be in a weak condition". |
V | Vaginal Catarrh | Vaginal discharge |
V | Valetudinary (1) | Tendency to be in poor health |
V | Valetudinary (2) | To be overly concerned about one's health |
V | Vapours or Vapors | A lay term that is in modern use in the UK, although the more elderly members of society generally use it. It means fainting, hysteria or panic attack, especially in adolescent and young adult women. |
V | Varicella | Chickenpox |
V | Varicocele | A varicose vein of the vein of the testicle. |
V | Varicocoele | A varicose vein of the vein of the testicle. |
V | Variola | Smallpox |
V | Variola Minor | Alastrim |
V | Variola-Alastrim | Alastrim |
V | Venesection | Bleeding (used as a treatment) |
V | Ventral Hernia | Any type of hernia on the front of the body, but will most likely be an epigastric hernia (due to weakness in the muscles in the upper central part of the abdomen. |
V | Vesico | Relating to the bladder |
V | Viper?s Dance | St. Vitus dance, chorea |
V | Viscera | Plural form of viscus i.e. internal organs |
V | Visceroptosis | Term meaning the downward displacement of an internal organ due to weakness of the abdominal muscles and internal ligaments. Many symptoms were attributed to this problem but I cannot explain how this relates to illness, as I am not aware of a disease that causes downward displacement of an internal organ. |
V | Viscus | Internal organ |
V | Visitation of God | Probably means old age or natural causes. Visitation of God might imply punishment by God. |
V | Volvulus | Excessive twisting of a loop of bowel so that its lumen is occluded or its blood supply is impaired. |
V | Vomito Negrito | Yellow fever |
V | Vulnus | A wound |
V | Vulnus Incisum | A wound caused by a cut. |
V | Vulnus Punctum | Stab wound |
V | Vulnus Scaplet | Knife wound |
V | Vulnus Sclopeticum | Gunshot wound |
W | War Nephritis | Acute nephritis |
W | Water Canker | Cancrum oris |
W | Water Gripes | Cholera infantum |
W | Water On (The) Brain (1) | Hydrocephalus in an infant or a child |
W | Water On (The) Brain (2) | In someone older could be any brain disease |
W | Weaning Brash | Cholera infantum (brash means heartburn i.e. belching of stomach acid). |
W | Wearing | Dialect (Yorkshire UK) term for consumption (tuberculosis). |
W | White Death | I do not have a primary source for this term. I have received some information that makes me think this may be diphtheria. It seems to be a Russian term and I am basing my interpretation on just a few examples. I suspect however that that is TB. |
W | White Fever | Tuberculosis |
W | White Leg | Thrombosis of veins in the thigh. Usually seen after childbirth. |
W | White Plague | Tuberculosis |
W | White Pox | Alastrim |
W | White Swelling | Tuberculosis of the bone or joints. Mainly affects children and large joints like the hip, knee or shoulder are the usual sites. |
W | White Throat | Diphtheria |
W | Whiteblood | Leukaemia |
W | Whitlow | Infection beginning at the edge of a nail (usually a finger) and spreading in a line up the limb; a paronychia. |
W | Winter Fever | Pneumonia |
W | Womb Fever | Infection of the uterus |
W | Woody Tongue | Name given to actinomycosis in cattle and pigs. |
W | Wool-Sorter?s Disease | Anthrax |
W | Worm Fever | I think worm fever is a term that indicates the ignorance (or naivety to be kind) of doctors in the past. Of the three common types of worm, (thread, round and in the past tape) none would cause what anyone today would consider an illness. It is likely that the cause of death was an unrecognised fever (possibly one where there would be diarrhoea like typhoid and worms would be passed) in someone who just happened to have worms. |
W | Worm Fit | Convulsions associated with teething, worms, elevated temperature or diarrhoea. |
Y | Yaws | This is a venereal disease, endemic to all tropical areas, that produces crops of hard boils. Experts have concluded that yaws was responsible for the biblical plague of boils. |
Y | Yellow Fever | An acute, often fatal, infectious disease of warm climates caused by a virus transmitted by mosquitoes. |
Y | Yellow Jack | Yellow fever |
Y | Yellow Jacket | Yellow fever |
Y | Yellow Landers | Jaundice |