Monday Word: Ergotism
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1word1dayergotism [ur-guh-tiz-uhm]
noun
a condition caused by eating rye or some other grain that is infected with ergot fungus or by taking an overdose of a medicine containing ergot, characterized by cramps, spasms, and a form of gangrene. Also called: Saint Anthony's fire.
examples
1. Looking at depictions of St. Anthony in the paintings of Renaissance masters, the influence of the disease of ergotism on the history of art starts to become clear. "How Renaissance Painting Smoldered with a Little Known Hallucinogen." Forrest Muelrath. 15 Sept 2017
2. Experts now know that those symptoms are common among people with convulsive ergotism, or ergot poisoning, which is caused by a fungus that can grow on wheat, rye, and other similar grains. Sarah Klein, Health.com, 2 Oct 2017
origins
borrowed from French ergotisme, from ergot ergot + -isme -ism
ergot comes from "spur on a rooster, a similar growth on another bird or mammal, fungal sclerotium resembling a rooster's spur," earlier also argot, going back to Old French argoz (subject case) "spur of a bird or animal," derivative from a Gallo-Romance base *arg- "spine, spiny or thorny plant," probably from a pre-Latin substratal language
Jan Mandijn, “The Temptation of Saint Anthony” (circa 1550)
noun
a condition caused by eating rye or some other grain that is infected with ergot fungus or by taking an overdose of a medicine containing ergot, characterized by cramps, spasms, and a form of gangrene. Also called: Saint Anthony's fire.
examples
1. Looking at depictions of St. Anthony in the paintings of Renaissance masters, the influence of the disease of ergotism on the history of art starts to become clear. "How Renaissance Painting Smoldered with a Little Known Hallucinogen." Forrest Muelrath. 15 Sept 2017
2. Experts now know that those symptoms are common among people with convulsive ergotism, or ergot poisoning, which is caused by a fungus that can grow on wheat, rye, and other similar grains. Sarah Klein, Health.com, 2 Oct 2017
origins
borrowed from French ergotisme, from ergot ergot + -isme -ism
ergot comes from "spur on a rooster, a similar growth on another bird or mammal, fungal sclerotium resembling a rooster's spur," earlier also argot, going back to Old French argoz (subject case) "spur of a bird or animal," derivative from a Gallo-Romance base *arg- "spine, spiny or thorny plant," probably from a pre-Latin substratal language
Jan Mandijn, “The Temptation of Saint Anthony” (circa 1550)
