The story
- Old High German · derived fromscalmo“pestilence”
- English todayscalma
From Old High German scalmo (“pestilence”), used in the Middle Ages to designate a malignant disease. See modern German Schelm.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
scalma
Today it means: A contagious febrile disease of horses, with local lesions of the bronchi, trachea, and larynx, having coughing as a symptom. Full definition →
Old High German scalmo