Viruses

[Kenelm Philip]

> Another post supported what I have heard (and unfortunately have no
> reference for): that "virus" is a coined English word, from "virulent",
> and that the homonymy with the Latin is convenient, but not intended.

        Out of curiosity, I checked the OED. 'Virus' in English appears to
date back to around 1400, and "...is merely taken over from the Latin text."
'Virulent' dates back to 1400 as well, in the same document. In pathology,
the first quote they give is from 1728, as follows: "_Virulent_, a Term
apply'd to any thing that yields a _Virus_: that is, a corrosive or con-
tagious Pus."  And 'virus' applied to any "...morbid principle or poisonous
substance produced in the body as the result of some disease...".

        This explains the early use of the term 'filterable virus' for
those disease agents _now_ called viruses/viri etc.: a disease-causing
substance that would pass through any known filter.

                                                        Ken Philip
fnkwp at uaf.edu