Unnumbered source etymology
Original entry ↗Idleness or laziness regarded as a medical condition; also, depression, especially resulting from a hangover. · A non-specific (often infectious) disease, especially one with symptoms similar to those of a cold or flu, which renders one unfit to attend social events, go to work, etc.
Idle, lazy.
The noun is derived from fever-lurgy, possibly influenced by or related to lurk (“to hang out or wait”). Fever-lurgy is possibly a variant of fever lurden (“idleness regarded as a medical condition”), from fever + lurden, lurdane (“used as a general term of abuse for a person, especially one regarded as dull or idle: loafer, sluggard”). Lurden, lurdane is derived from Middle English lurdan (“coward; good-for-nothing person, fool, rascal; lazy person; low-born or ill-mannered person; unfortunate person; wicked person”), from Old French lordin, lourdin, from lourd, lourt, lorz (“clumsy, oafish; heavy”) (modern French lourd) + -in (suffix forming derogatory or diminutive nouns); and lourd from Late Latin lordus, lurdus (“clumsy; heavy slow; stupid”), probably from Latin lūridus (“sallow, wan; ghastly, horrifying”), possibly from lūror (“lividness; paleness, pallor”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₃y- (“bluish”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives). Noun sense 1.2 (“non-specific disease”) was popularized by the British radio comedy show The Goon Show (first broadcast 1951–1960), especially the episode “Lurgi Strikes Britain” (series 5, episode 7; 9 November 1954) written by the Anglo-Irish comedian Spike Milligan (1918–2002) and the English comedian Eric Sykes (1923–2012), about the outbreak of a highly dangerous and infectious and—as it turns out—fictitious disease known as “the Dreaded Lurgi” created as a scam. Another suggestion is that the word is a corruption and contraction of allergy, but this is a folk etymology as allergy has a soft g (/dʒ/) while lurgy has a hard /ɡ/ (rhyming with Fergie). The adjective is probably from an attributive use of the noun.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Root classification mention*(s)leh₃y-ine-pro
- Inherited-form mentionlurdanenm · coward; good-for-nothing person, fool, rascal; lazy person; low-born or ill-mannered person; unfortunate person; wicked person
- Derivation mentionlordinfro
- Cognate mentionlourdfr
- Derivation mentionlūridusla · sallow, wan; ghastly, horrifying
- Derivation mention*(s)leh₃y-ine-pro · bluish
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
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{
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},
"expansion": "Middle English lurdan (“coward; good-for-nothing person, fool, rascal; lazy person; low-born or ill-mannered person; unfortunate person; wicked person”)"
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"expansion": "Old French lordin"
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"expansion": "French lourd"
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{
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"expansion": "Late Latin lordus"
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{
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},
"expansion": "Latin lūridus (“sallow, wan; ghastly, horrifying”)"
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"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₃y- (“bluish”)"
},
{
"name": "senseno",
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"uc": "1"
},
"expansion": "Noun sense 1.2"
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"expansion": "corruption"
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{
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"expansion": "contraction"
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{
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"links": [
[
"fever-lurgy",
"fever-lurgy#English"
],
[
"lurk",
"lurk#English"
],
[
"fever lurden",
"fever lurden#English"
],
[
"fever",
"fever#English"
],
[
"lurden",
"lurden#English"
],
[
"lurdane",
"lurdane#English"
],
[
"lurdan",
"lurdan#Middle_English"
],
[
"lordin",
"lordin#Old_French"
],
[
"lourdin",
"lourdin#Old_French"
],
[
"lourd",
"lourd#Old_French"
],
[
"lourt",
"lourt#Old_French"
],
[
"lorz",
"lorz#Old_French"
],
[
"lourd",
"lourd#French"
],
[
"-in",
"-in#Old_French"
],
[
"lordus",
"lordus#Latin"
],
[
"lurdus",
"lurdus#Latin"
],
[
"lūridus",
"luridus#Latin"
],
[
"lūror",
"luror#Latin"
],
[
"*(s)leh₃y-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/(s)leh₃y-"
],
[
"-idus",
"-idus#Latin"
],
[
"allergy",
"allergy#English"
],
[
"Fergie",
"Fergie#English"
]
],
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{
"pos": "noun",
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"Idleness or laziness regarded as a medical condition; also, depression, especially resulting from a hangover.",
"A non-specific (often infectious) disease, especially one with symptoms similar to those of a cold or flu, which renders one unfit to attend social events, go to work, etc."
],
"tags": [
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"Australia",
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{
"pos": "adj",
"glosses": [
"Idle, lazy."
],
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