migraine

The story

1. Egyptian · derived fromgs-tp“a headache”
2. Ancient Greek · derived fromἡμικρανία
3. Latin · derived fromhemicrania“a pain in one half of the head”
4. Old French · derived frommigraigne
5. Middle English · derived frommegrim
6. English todaymigraine

First appears c. 1425. A respelling (following French) of the late 14th century Middle English megrim, from the 13th century Old French migraigne, from Vulgar Latin pronunciation of Latin hemicrania (“a pain in one half of the head”), from Ancient Greek ἡμικρανία (hēmikranía), from ἡμι- (hēmi-, “hemi-, half”) + κρανίον (kraníon, “the skull”) (whence also cranium), a calque of Egyptian gs-tp (“a headache”), from gs (“half”) + tp (“the head”), although the link between the Egyptian magical papyri and the Greek ἡμικρανία (hēmikranía) could be purely incidental. Cognate to megrim, hemicrania.