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Origin and history of cow-pox

cow-pox(n.)

also cowpox, disease of cattle, 1780, see cow (n.) + pox. The fluid of the vesicles can communicate it to humans, and getting it provides almost complete immunity to smallpox.

also from 1780

Entries linking to cow-pox

cow(n.)

"female of a bovine animal," especially the domestic ox, Middle English cu, qu, kowh, from Old English cu "cow," from Proto-Germanic *kwon (source also of Old Frisian ku, Middle Dutch coe, Dutch koe, Old High German kuo, German Kuh, Old Norse kyr, Danish, Swedish ko), earlier *kwom, from PIE root *gwou- "ox, bull, cow."

Applied to the females of various large animals from late 14c. As an insulting or degrading word for a woman, 1690s.

pox(n.)

"disease characterized by eruptive sores," late 15c., spelling alteration of pockes (late 13c. in this sense), plural of pocke "pustule" (see pock (n.)). Especially (after c. 1500) of syphilis.

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    bugle
    Old French bugle "(musical) horn," also "wild ox, buffalo," from Latin buculus "heifer, young ox," diminutive of bos "ox, cow..." (from PIE root *gwou- "ox, bull, cow")....
    butter
    This is apparently "cow-cheese," from bous "ox, cow" (from PIE root *gwou- "ox, bull, cow") + tyros "cheese" (from PIE root...
    bucolic
    (1520s), from Latin bucolicus, from Greek boukolikos "pastoral, rustic," from boukolos "cowherd, herdsman," from bous "cow..." (from PIE root *gwou- "ox, bull, cow") + -kolos "tending," related to Latin colere "to till (the ground), cultivate, dwell...
    ish kabibble
    Chicken pox doesn't poison the wellsprings of one's existence like 'Ish kabibble,' and 'I should worry.!'...
    daddy
    A superstition obtains among our cow-boys that if a cow be lost, its whereabouts may be learned by inquiring of the Daddy-Long-legs...
    dog-gone
    It is thus a brother to the old English phrase, 'a pox upon it,' but is considerably more decorous."...
    sterile
    This is held to be from PIE *ster- "lacking, sterile," source also of Sanskrit starih "a barren cow," Greek steira "sterile..., infertile" (of a cow, goat, woman), Armenian sterj "infertile," and it is perhaps ultimately from the root *ster- (1) "...
    medicine
    c. 1200, "medical treatment, cure, healing," also (early 14c.) "substance used in treatment of a disease, medicinal potion or plaster," also used figuratively of spiritual remedies, from Old French medecine (Modern French médicine) "medicine, art of healing, cure, treatment, poti
    dignity
    c. 1200, "state of being worthy," from Old French dignite "dignity, privilege, honor," from Latin dignitatem (nominative dignitas) "worthiness," from dignus "worth (n.), worthy, proper, fitting," from PIE *dek-no-, suffixed form of root *dek- "to take, accept." From c. 1300 as "a
    tribulation
    "a state of affliction or oppression, suffering, distress," c. 1200, from Old French tribulacion (12c.), from Church Latin tribulationem (nominative tribulatio) "distress, trouble, affliction," noun of action from past-participle stem of tribulare "to oppress, afflict," a figurat

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