scurvy

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English

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WOTD – 30 October 2024

Etymology

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A patient with spongy gums, one of the symptoms of scurvy (noun sense 1).

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English scurvi, scurvy,[1] variants of scurfi (“having scurf, scabby”),[2] from scurf (“skin disease causing scabs or scales; flakes of skin that fall off due to a skin disease, etc.”)[3] + -i (suffix forming adjectives).[4] Scurf is derived from Old English scurf, from Proto-Germanic *skurf- (“to gnaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off, sever; to divide, separate”). By surface analysis, scurf (“skin disease; flakes of skin that fall off due to a skin disease; crust-like formations on the skin”) +‎ -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives).[5]

The noun is derived from the adjective. It was used to translate the similar-sounding Dutch scheurbuik, French scorbut, Middle Low German schorbūk (“scurvy (disease)”), etc.[1][6]

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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scurvy (comparative scurvier, superlative scurviest)

  1. (obsolete)
    1. Affected or covered with scurf (“skin disease causing flakes of skin to fall off”) or scabs; scurfy, scabby; also, of or relating to a skin disease causing scurf or to scurvy (noun sense 1).
      Synonyms: roynish, scabrous; see also Thesaurus:scabby
      Coordinate term: mangy
      • c. 1517 (date written; published c. 1545), John Skelton, “Here after Foloweth the Booke Called Elynour Rummynge. The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng per Skelton Laureat.”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 99, lines 133–136 and 139–140:
        Some wenches come vnlased, / Some hyswyues come vnbrased, / Wyth theyr naked pappes, / That flappes and flappes; / […] / A sorte of foule drabbes / All scuruy with scabbes: […]
      • 1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of Corne”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book I, page 60:
        The bran of VVheate boiled in ſharpe vineger, and rubbed vpon them that be ſcuruie and mangie, easeth the partie very much.
      • 1610, Gervase Markham, “Of the Paines”, in Markhams Maister-peece. Contayning All Knowledge Belonging to the Smith, Farrier, or Horse-leech, Touching the Curing of All Diseases in Horses: […], 5th edition, London: […] Nicholas and Iohn Okes, […], published 1636, →OCLC, 2nd book (Containing All Cures Chirurgicall, […]), page 397:
        This medicine is vvell approved to cure all ſorts of Paine, Scratches, Moully heeles, or any other skirvy ſcalls vvhatſoever, that may breed in a horſes legges or heeles, […]
      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 21:17 and 20, column 1:
        Whoſoeuer he be of thy ſeed in their generations, that hath any blemiſh, let him not approche to offer the bread of his God: […] [he] that hath a blemiſh in his eye, or be ſcuruy, or ſcabbed, […]
    2. (by extension) Of growths on plants: resembling scurf; scurfy.
  2. (figurative, archaic)
    1. Of a person or thing: disgustingly mean; contemptible, despicable, low.
      Synonyms: miserable, paltry, shabby; see also Thesaurus:despicable
      a scurvy knave    a scurvy trick
    2. Of the way someone is treated: poor, shabby.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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scurvy (usually uncountable, plural scurvies)

  2. (uncountable, pathology) A disease caused by insufficient intake of vitamin C, leading to the formation of livid spots on the skin, spongy gums, loosening of the teeth, and bleeding into the skin and from almost all mucous membranes; (countable, obsolete) an occurrence of this disease.
    Synonyms: Barlow's disease, Cheadle-Möller-Barlow syndrome, Cheadle's disease, Moeller's disease, Möller-Barlow disease, scorbutus
    Hyponyms: land-scurvy, sea-scurvy
    • 1589, Robert Baker, “The Second Voyage to Guinie, and the Riuer of Selto, Set Out in the Moneth of Nouember 1563, […]”, in Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC, page 139:
      Our legs now vs deceiue, / ſwolne euery ioint withall, / With this diſeaſe, which, by your leaue, / the Scuruie men doe call.
    • 1592, Thomas Nash[e], Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Deuill. […], London: […] [John Charlewood for] Richard Ihones, […], →OCLC, signature C3, verso:
      [H]e vvill go to the ſea, and teare the gold out of the Spanyards throats, but he vvill haue it, byrlady: and vvhen he comes there, poore ſoule, hee lyes in brine in Baliſt, and is lamentable ſicke of the ſcuruyes; […]
    • 1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of Scuruie Grasse, or Spoonewoort”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book II, page 325, column 2:
      [W]hich excellent plant [scurvy-grass], Cæſars ſoldiers […] found to preuaile […] againſt that plague and hurtfull diſeaſe of the teeth, gums, and ſinevves, called the Scuruie, being a depriuation of all good bloode and moiſture, in the vvhole bodie, called Scorbutum; in Engliſh the Scuruie, and Skyrbie: […]
    • c. 1607–1626 (date written), Thomas Heywood, William Rowly [i.e., William Rowley], Fortune by Land and Sea. A Tragi-comedy. […], London: […] John Sweeting […], and Robert Pollard […], published 1655, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 21:
      [N]ovv vve have looſed the plough in the fields, they'l find vvork enough about home to keep us from the ſcurvey.
    • 1674 October 25 (Gregorian calendar), George Jones, This is to Give You Notice of My Friendly Pill: The Like whereof was Never Found Out before, for Doing Good: […], London: [s.n.], →OCLC, pages 8–9:
      The Scurvies is the Mother and Nurſery of all Diſeaſes: and upon taking old, or any diſorder of Body, they branch out one Diſtemper or other, and yet the grand cauſe, vvhich is the Scurvies, remains all in one Body.
    • 1711, Benjamin Allen, “Scarborough-water in Yorkshire”, in The Natural History of the Mineral-waters of Great-Britain. […], London: […] [F]or the author, and sold by William Innys, […], →OCLC, page 34:
      But I muſt allovv that this VVater is moſt indovv'd vvith theſe Acid Streams by this means, and may repute it as moſt Medicinal in Scurvies, on the Score of the Quantity of Acid, Chalybeat, and Allummy, extraordinary in this.
    • 1763 June 20 (first performance), Samuel Foote, The Mayor of Garret. A Comedy, […], London: […] P[aul] Vaillant, […], published 1764, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4:
      And then as to your ſcurvys, and gouts, rheumatiſms, conſumptions, coughs and catarrhs, tar-vvater and turpentine vvill make you as ſound as a roach.
    • 1841, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., chapter XXXV, in Two Years before the Mast. […], London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 114:
      The chief use, however, of the fresh provisions was for the men with the scurvy. One of them was able to eat, and he soon brought himself to by gnawing upon raw potatoes; but the other, by this time, was hardly able to open his mouth; and the cook took the potatoes raw, pounded them in a mortar, and gave him the juice to drink.
    • 2012 March, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered: Was It Responsible Governance or was It Subterfuge?”, in American Scientist‎[1], volume 100, number 2, New Haven, Conn.: Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-01-21, page 87:
      Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat.
  3. (countable, figurative, derogatory) A contemptible or despicable person.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:git
    • 2002, Roy Vincent Buckle, “Sea Shanty: The Ballad of Kate d’Vere”, in Africans and Aliens, Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, →ISBN, part 2 (Cherchez la Femme), page 76:
      Row, row you scurvies, / She'll have us boiled in oil. / Move, move those creaking oars, / until you reach Cape soil.
    • 2004 October, “Don’t Go There! Our Desert-island List of Desert Islands where You’d Never Want to be Stranded”, in Sia Michel, editor, Spin, volume 20, number 10, New York, N.Y.: Vibe/Spin Ventures, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52, column 2:
      Muppet Treasure Island (1996) Avast! There be no treasure on this island, just a bunch of googly-eyed, synthetic scurvies staging a bastardized retelling of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson adventure.
    • 2022 September 13, Carrie Chang, The Dieters: Confessions of a Valley Girl in Plaid‎[2], [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN:
      Her friends kept writing her warning her that the man market was not that fortuitous, and filled [with] wormies, and scurvies, unctuous bedfellows that would make her chin jut out— […]
  4. (uncountable, by extension, veterinary medicine, obsolete) A cattle disease, perhaps affecting the skin.

Usage notes

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Before the cause of scurvy was discovered, the word was also used to describe other diseases with similar symptoms.[6]

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “scurvy, n. and adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “scurfī, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ^ “scurf, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ “-ī̆, suf.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. ^ “scurvy, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2024.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 “scurvy, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2024.

Further reading

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