Etymology

Black Death

Today it means: A pandemic outbreak of bubonic plague throughout Europe and most of Asia in the 14th century that killed nearly half the population of Europe and Asia. Full definition →

Danish den sorte død ← Swedish swarta dödhen
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The story

  1. Swedish · calque ofswarta dödhen
  2. Danish · calque ofden sorte død
  3. English todayBlack Death

Calque of Danish den sorte død (literally “the black death”), sortedød (“black death”), since 1755, from Old Danish. The collocation as such is attested early on, but the specific use is believed to have originated in Scandinavia and is first attested in Swedish swarta dödhen (1540), svarthe döden (1555); Modern Swedish svarta döden; compare Norwegian svartedauden, svartedauen.

Words from the same roots

Danishden sorte død all →

Black Plague

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.