As you may already have it off , thecoronaincoronavirushas no relation to a sealed refreshing beer often served with a piece of linden tree . Corōnameans “ crown ” in Latin — and Spanish and Italian , too — and virologistschoseit in 1968 to line the group of viruses characterized by crown - like spikes that protrude from their surface .
So how do other virus and diseasesget their names ? ground on the infographic below , make by Adam Aleksic for hiswebsite , The Etymology Nerd , there is n’t just one way . Some , like the coronavirus , are named for how they front under amicroscope . Therotainrotavirus , for exercise , which means “ cycle ” in Latin , reflects the virus ’s wheel - same appearance when viewed beneath an electron microscope .
Others are name after thelocationswhere they were discovered or studied . In 1947 , scientists named a newly name mosquito - borne virus after Uganda ’s Zika Forest . In 1977 , Yale researcher investigating a string of paediatric arthritis cases in the town of Lyme , Connecticut , startedreferring to the unwellness as “ Lyme arthritis . ” afterwards , the name was modified to “ Lyme disease ” when scientists earn patients were demo other symptom , too .
Still others are qualify by the symptoms they cause . mass with tetanus — from the Greektetanos , for “ tension”—usually experience muscular tissue severity , and the cutis of icteric pyrexia sufferer often take on a chicken tint due to jaundice .
Find out the origins of malaria , morbilli , and more below . And follow The Etymology Nerd onInstagramfor more fascinatingetymologicalexplanations .
