English
epizootic
Epizootic comes from French épizootie.
- Frenchc. 1600–presentépizootie
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentépizootique
- Englishearliest quotation 1799epizootic
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Frenchc. 1600–presentépizootie
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentépizootique
- Englishearliest quotation 1799epizootic
Earliest quotation: 1799, Richard Kirwan, Geological Essays: “Hence their primary division is into primeval and secondary…”
A compound of ἐπί ‘on, upon’ + ζῷον ‘animal’
Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep- ‘to grab, snatch, get’
Proto-Indo-European *h₁épi ‘on’
Proto-Hellenic *epí
Ancient Greek ἐπί ‘on, upon’
Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- ‘to live’
Proto-Indo-European *gʷyéh₃-w-os
Proto-Hellenic *d͏̌ōwós
Ancient Greek ζωός ‘alive’
Ancient Greek ζώῐ̈ον ‘Ionic form of ζῷον (zōîon)’
Ancient Greek ζῷον ‘animal’
The story
Use of the word in the second sense, "an ailment", was likely originally a reference to a particular epizootic ailment. Both senses are attested since at least the 1800s, and the pronunciation with five syllables is explicitly attested since then as well. Dialectal pronunciation of the second sense with four syllables is attested since at least the 1910s in spellings like "epizudic" and is suggested by 1870s references to a shortened form of the word, "zooty".
Every English word from French épizootie
Today it means
noun An occurrence of a disease or disorder in a population of non-human animals at a frequency higher than that expected in a given time period.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / French épizootie / epizootic