The megrims

[flemmings]

Long weekend megrims? rainy ache megrims? muggy May megrims? Dunno, but I had a bad attack of the megrims yesterday which continued into today. Prompted a lot of unadvised eating. Fought them off this evening, finally, by the time-honoured ritual of Vacuuming Something. I wish cleaning wasn't so effective- so 50s- but one must accept that what is, is, and a clean(er) house is a mood-lifter.

(Oh, now isn't that interesting. Megrim and migraine have the same root. As well they might: megrims are the migraine of the soul. According to Meriam-Webster:

Megrim and "migraine" share a meaning and an etymology. Latin and Greek speakers afflicted with a pain in one side of the head called their ailment "hemicrania" or "hēmikrania," from the Greek terms hēmi-, meaning "half," and kranion, meaning "cranium." French-speaking sufferers used "migraine," a modification of "hemicrania," for the same condition. English speakers borrowed "migraine" from French - twice. First, they modified the French term to form "migreime," which in turn gave rise to "megrim" in the 15th century. Later, in the 18th century, they returned to French and borrowed "migraine" again, this time retaining its French spelling. Nowadays, "megrim" and "migraine" can still be used interchangeably, but "megrim" can have other meanings

Comments

[i-am-zan.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Interesting ... *takes note* - lexicography! Such fun stuff!
Thank you.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. I feel we shouldn't lose these medieval or Renaissance words; they're far more resonant than the current clinical vocabulary.