paludisme (French)
Where does "paludisme" come from?
Derived from the Latin word 'palus' meaning swamp, 'paludisme' reflects the historical belief that malaria was caused by breathing in poisonous swamp gases or miasma. The term evolved from the Proto-Indo-European root 'pelH-', which likely referred to the gray color of ash or marshlands. While originally known as 'impaludisme' in French, the name survived as a medical term for the disease long after its link to mosquitoes was discovered.
Full etymology tree
- paludisme (French), 'malaria (disease)'
- derived impaludisme (French), 'inoculation against malaria'
- compound palud (French), 'swamp'
- inherited palūs (Latin), 'swamp, marsh, morass, bog, fen, pool'
- inherited *palūts (Proto-Italic)
- inherited *pelH- (Proto-Indo-European), 'pale, gray'
- inherited *palūts (Proto-Italic)
- inherited palūs (Latin), 'swamp, marsh, morass, bog, fen, pool'
- compound -isme (French), '-ism'
- borrowed -ismus (Latin), '-ism; Suffixed to nouns or verbs to forms masculine abstract nouns of practice (action or incidence), result, teaching (doctrine or philosophy), or status (state or condition) related to the thing or action so suffixed'
- borrowed -ismós (Ancient Greek)
- derived -ízō (Ancient Greek)
- borrowed -ismós (Ancient Greek)
- borrowed -ismus (Latin), '-ism; Suffixed to nouns or verbs to forms masculine abstract nouns of practice (action or incidence), result, teaching (doctrine or philosophy), or status (state or condition) related to the thing or action so suffixed'
- compound palud (French), 'swamp'
- derived impaludisme (French), 'inoculation against malaria'
Ancestors
- palud (French)
- -isme (French)
Descendants and derived words
- paludism (English)
Updated May 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris