GC: n
S: MEDLP – http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000654.htm (last access: 18 November 2014); NCBI – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430881/ (last access: 3 March 2020).
N:1. spot (n): c.1200, “moral stain,” probably from Old English splott “a spot, blot, patch (of land),” and partly from or related to Middle Dutch spotte “spot, speck.” Other cognates are East Frisian spot “speck” North Frisian spot “speck, piece of ground,” Old Norse spotti “small piece,” Norwegian ‘ spot “spot, small piece of land.” It is likely that some of these are borrowed from others, but the exact evolution now is impossible to trace. Meaning “speck, stain” is from mid-14c.
fever (n): late Old English fefor, fefer “fever, temperature of the body higher than normal,” from Latin febris “fever,” related to fovere “to warm, heat,” probably from PIE root *dhegh- “burn” (cognates: Gothic dags, Old English dæg “day,” originally “the heat;” Greek tephra “ashes”); but some suggest a reduplication of a root represented by Sanskrit bhur– “to be restless.”
The Latin word was adopted into most Germanic languages (German Fieber, Swedish feber, Danish feber), but not in Dutch. English spelling influenced by Old French fievre. Alternative to Old English hrið, hriðing (cognate with Old High German hritto, Irish crith, Welsh cryd, Lithuanian skriečiù). Extended sense of “intense nervous excitement” is from 1580s. Also as a verb in Old English, feferian.
2. A tick-borne rickettsial disease characterized by fever, myalgias, headache, and a petechial rash.
3. Spotted fever: term also used to refer specifically to any tick-borne rickettsiosis or to any rickettsiosis. It is therefore preferable to use the exact term.
4. Discovery of the microbe of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in 1906 by H.T. Ricketts led to the understanding of other rickettsial diseases. Despite its name, Rocky Mountain spotted fever is most common on the eastern coast of the United States and has been found in every state.
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=spot&searchmode=nl; http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=fever&searchmode=nl (last access: 18 November 2014); 2 & 3. TERMIUMPLUS. 4. EncBrit (last access: 18 November 2014).
SYN: 1. RMSF, spotted fever. 2. tick typhus, Sao Paulo fever.
S: 1. TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 18 November 2014). 2. Science Daily- http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/r/rocky_mountain_spotted_fever.htm (last access: 18 November 2014).
