Editing Spanish flu (section)

==Etymologies==
<!--This section should focus on specific terms for this pandemic so it doesn't become a "list of generic terms for flu." Pre-existing names should only be mentioned in the context of explaining new names.-->
[[File:El Sol 28 de mayo de 1918.jpg|thumb|''[[El Sol (Madrid)|El Sol]]'' ([[Madrid]]), 28 May 1918: "The three-day fever – In Madrid 80,000 Are Infected – [[Majesty|H.M.]] [[Alfonso XIII|the King]] is sick"]]
This pandemic was known by many different names depending on place, time, and context. The [[etymology]] of alternative names [[Historicism|historicises]] the scourge and its effects on people who would only learn years [[History of virology|later]] that [[virus]]es caused [[influenza]].<ref>{{harvnb|Davis|2013|p=7}}: "In short, although the Spanish flu 'had nothing "Spanish" about it,' from a strictly epidemiological perspective, its discursive link to the Iberian nation is beyond dispute. The importance of narrative for a historically informed appreciation of the epidemic stems from the importance of this discursive link and is tied directly to the scientific uncertainty about the etiological agent of the epidemic;"</ref> The lack of scientific answers led the ''Sierra Leone Weekly News'' ([[Freetown]]) to suggest a [[biblical]] framing in July 1918, using an [[interrogative]] from [[Beshalach|Exodus 16]] in ancient [[Hebrew]]:{{efn|The Israelites asked: "Ma'n Hu?" {?מן הוא} – in English: 'what is it?'<ref>{{Cite web|date=14 March 2018|title=Biblical Hebrew Words and Meaning|url=https://www.hebrewversity.com/word-mannamean-hebrew/|access-date=11 August 2021|website=hebrewversity|quote=in the original Hebrew the people of Israel asked: "Ma'n Hu?" {?מן הוא} – English for 'what is it?' and that is the origin of the name 'manna'}}</ref>}} "One thing is for certain—the doctors are at present flabbergasted; and we suggest that rather than calling the disease influenza they should for the present until they have it in hand, say {{lang|he-Latn|Man hu}}—'What is it?'"<ref>{{harvnb|Spinney|2018|p=65}}: "In Freetown, a newspaper suggested that the disease be called manhu until more was known about it. Manhu, a Hebrew word meaning 'what is it?'</ref><ref>{{Citation|vauthors=Cole F|title=Sierra Leone and World War 1|publisher=[[University of London]], School of Oriental and African Studies|via=ProQuest Dissertations Publishing|date=1994|id=10731720|page=213|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/961aaf74c07749e4424eb56c91718d8c/|access-date=11 August 2021|quote=local interpretations of the crisis had become deeply reminiscent of the increasing disobedience of the Israelites in the wilderness of Sin. It was therefore urged that the epidemic be called 'Man hu,' (an obvious corruption of "manna") meaning 'what is it?'|archive-date=11 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811235039/https://www.proquest.com/openview/961aaf74c07749e4424eb56c91718d8c/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Sierra Leone Weekly News |volume= XXXV|number= 1|date= 9 July 1918|page=6}} quoted in Mueller JW (1998), p. 8.</ref>

===Descriptive names===
Outbreaks of [[influenza-like illness]] were documented in 1916–17 at British military hospitals in [[Étaples]], France,<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Hammond JA, Rolland W, Shore TH|date=14 July 1917|title=Purulent Bronchitis|url=https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(01)56229-7|journal=The Lancet|volume=190|issue=4898|pages=41–46|doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(01)56229-7|issn=0140-6736|archive-date=22 March 2023|access-date=30 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322035537/https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(01)56229-7/fulltext|url-status=live}} [https://www.statnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Hammond.1917.purulent.bronchitis.pdf Alt URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190826134026/https://www.statnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Hammond.1917.purulent.bronchitis.pdf |date=26 August 2019 }}</ref> and just across the [[English Channel]] at [[Aldershot]], England. Clinical indications in common with the 1918 pandemic included rapid symptom progression to a "dusky" [[heliotrope (color)|heliotrope]] face. <!--The [[German language|German]] name '{{lang|de|Blitzkatarrh}}' (lightning cold, from {{Langx|grc|καταρρεῖν}}, ''[[Catarrh|katarrhein]]''),<ref name=fes/><ref name=Storey/> captured the sudden onset, while--> This characteristic blue-violet [[cyanosis]] in expiring patients led to the name 'purple death'.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Radusin M | title = The Spanish flu – Part I: the first wave | journal = Vojnosanitetski Pregled | volume = 69 | issue = 9 | pages = 812–817 | date = September 2012 | pmid = 23050410 | url = https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23050410 | quote = the Purple Death ... name resulted from the specific skin colour in the most severe cases of the diseased, who by the rule also succumbed to the disease, and is also at the same time the only one which does not link this disease with the Iberian peninsula. This name is actually the most correct. | archive-date = 8 November 2022 | access-date = 31 July 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221108114434/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23050410/ | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = McCord CP | title = The Purple Death. Some things remembered about the influenza epidemic of 1918 at one army camp | journal = Journal of Occupational Medicine | volume = 8 | issue = 11 | pages = 593–598 | date = November 1966 | pmid = 5334191 | url = https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/5334191 | publisher = Industrial Medical Association | archive-date = 8 November 2022 | access-date = 31 July 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221108114434/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/5334191/ | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|vauthors=Getz D|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1006711971|title=Purple death : the mysterious Spanish flu of 1918|year=2017|publisher=Square Fish|isbn=978-1-250-13909-2|oclc=1006711971|archive-date=22 March 2023|access-date=31 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322035537/https://worldcat.org/title/1006711971|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Aldershot physicians later wrote in ''[[The Lancet]]'', "the influenza pneumococcal purulent bronchitis we and others described in 1916 and 1917 is fundamentally the same condition as the influenza of this present pandemic."<ref name=Oxford>{{cite journal | vauthors = Oxford JS, Gill D | title = A possible European origin of the Spanish influenza and the first attempts to reduce mortality to combat superinfecting bacteria: an opinion from a virologist and a military historian | journal = Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics | volume = 15 | issue = 9 | pages = 2009–2012 | date = 2 September 2019 | pmid = 31121112 | pmc = 6773402 | doi = 10.1080/21645515.2019.1607711 | quote = Two papers were published in The Lancet in 1917 describing an outbreak of disease constituting 'almost a small epidemic'. The first paper was written by physicians at a hospital center in northern France,3 and the second by a team at an army hospital in Aldershot, in southern England. In both earlier instances and in the 1918 pandemic the disease was characterized by a 'dusky' cyanosis, a rapid progression from quite minor symptoms to death }}</ref> This "[[purulent]] [[bronchitis]]" <!--({{langx|la|purulentus, full of pus}}) -->is not yet linked to the same [[Influenza A virus subtype H1N1|A/H1N1]] virus,<ref name=Cox/> but it may be a precursor.<ref name=Oxford/><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Honigsbaum M | title = Spanish influenza redux: revisiting the mother of all pandemics | journal = Lancet | volume = 391 | issue = 10139 | pages = 2492–2495 | date = June 2018 | pmid = 29976462 | doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31360-6 | quote = Labelled 'purulent bronchitis' for want of a better term, the disease proved fatal in half the cases and many soldiers also developed cyanosis. 2 years later, British respiratory experts, also writing in The Lancet, but this time in the wake of the pandemic, would decide the disease had been 'fundamentally the same condition' as 'Spanish' influenza | s2cid = 49709093 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Dennis Shanks G, Mackenzie A, Waller M, Brundage JF | title = Relationship between "purulent bronchitis" in military populations in Europe prior to 1918 and the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic | journal = Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses | volume = 6 | issue = 4 | pages = 235–239 | date = July 2012 | pmid = 22118532 | pmc = 5779808 | doi = 10.1111/j.1750-2659.2011.00309.x }}</ref>

In 1918, 'epidemic [[influenza]]',<ref name=Storey>{{Cite news|date=21 September 2020|vauthors=Storey, C|title=OLD NEWS: Influenza was an old foe long before 1918|url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/sep/21/flu-outbreaks-didnt-start-in-1918/|access-date=7 August 2021|series=Opinion|work=[[Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]]|quote=I came across this seemingly astute analysis in the Dec. 21, 1913, Gazette.... It was a 'Special Cable to the Gazette Through the International News Service.' ''Grip Is a Disease Without a Country; All Nations Repudiate Malady: Each Blaming Other Kingdoms,'' London, Dec. 20. — The grip is a disease without a country, according to a new book just issued which is devoted to the malady. Every country tries to make it out a native of another land.... Eighteenth-century Italian writers say Dr. Hopkirk spoke of "una influenza di freddo" (influence of cold), and English physicians, mistaking the word influenza for the name of the disease itself, used it. The same term is also used in Germany, where a host of dialect names still prevail, such as lightning catarrh and fog plague.|archive-date=7 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210807155738/https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/sep/21/flu-outbreaks-didnt-start-in-1918/|url-status=live}}</ref> also known at the time as 'the grip' ({{langx|fr|la grippe}}, grasp),<ref name=Grippe>{{Cite news|title=Grippe is not new|work=[[Los Angeles Herald]]|date=14 January 1899|at=p. 6 col. 6|via=California Digital Newspaper Collection|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH18990114.2.131&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1|access-date=7 August 2021|quote=French doctors gave it the name of "la grippe," which is now anglicized into "the grip" ... It is known all over the world, and there is a disposition in every nation to shift the odium of it upon some other country. Then the Russians call it the Chinese catarrh, the Germans often call it the Russian pest, the Italians name it the German disease, and the French call it sometimes the Italian fever and sometimes the Spanish catarrh.|archive-date=7 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210807205532/https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH18990114.2.131&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1|url-status=live}}</ref> appeared in [[Kansas]], U.S., during late spring, and early reports from [[Spain]] began appearing on 21 May.<ref>{{harvnb|Davis|2013|p=27}}: "On May 21, 1918, ''El Liberal'' published a scant article titled 'Can One Live? The Fashionable Illness.' Likely the first account in Spain of the Spanish flu, it begins: 'For several days, Madrid has been affected by an epidemic, which fortunately is mild; but which, from what it appears, intends to kill doctors from overwork'.... The following day, ''El Sol'' and ''ABC'' published their first stories about the epidemic: 'What is the Cause? An Epidemic in Madrid' and 'Benign Epidemic. The Sickbay in Madrid,' respectively."</ref><ref>{{Cite web|vauthors=Alfeirán X|date=7 December 2015|title=La fiebre de los tres días|trans-title=The three-day fever|url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/coruna/coruna/2015/12/07/fiebre-tres-dias/0003_201512H7C6991.htm|access-date=29 July 2021|website=La Voz de Galicia|location=[[A Coruña]]|language=es|quote=Las primeras noticias aparecieron en la prensa de Madrid el 21 de mayo de 1918.|trans-quote=The first news appeared in the press of Madrid on 21 May 1918.|archive-date=29 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729031647/https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/coruna/coruna/2015/12/07/fiebre-tres-dias/0003_201512H7C6991.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Reports from both places called it 'three-day fever'.<ref>{{Cite news|vauthors=McClure J|title=Spanish flu of 1918 no three-day fever. Try 365-day worldwide plague|url=https://www.ydr.com/story/news/history/blogs/york-town-square/2009/05/01/currentflu/31647929/|access-date=29 July 2021|work=[[York Daily Record]]|date=1 May 2009|archive-date=29 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729031637/https://www.ydr.com/story/news/history/blogs/york-town-square/2009/05/01/currentflu/31647929/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|vauthors=Calleja S|date=29 July 2021|title=La fiebre de los tres días|trans-title=The three-day fever|url=https://www.diariodeleon.es/articulo/provincia/la-fiebre-de-los-tres-dias/201810211246001802480.html|access-date=21 October 2018|work=Diario de León|location=[[León, Spain]]|language=es|archive-date=29 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729031636/https://www.diariodeleon.es/articulo/provincia/la-fiebre-de-los-tres-dias/201810211246001802480.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Impacto de la gripe de 1918 en España|url=https://vacunasaep.org/profesionales/noticias/gripe-espanola-1918-parte2|access-date=29 July 2021|website=Comité Asesor de Vacunas de la Asociación Española de Pediatría|trans-website=Vaccine Advisory Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics|language=es|quote=En España, se le llamó al principio 'la fiebre de los tres días', atendiendo a la creencia, como en otros países, de que la gripe era una enfermedad leve. Las primeras noticias sobre la gripe, llamando la atención sobre que algo distinto estaba ocurriendo, aparecieron en la prensa a finales de mayo. Por ej. en el diario ABC el 22 de mayo mediante una escueta nota en la página 24: 'Los médicos han comprobado, en Madrid, la existencia de una epidemia de índole gripal, muy propagada, pero, por fortuna, de carácter leve'.|trans-quote=In Spain, it was initially called 'the three-day fever', based on the belief, as in other countries, that the flu was a mild illness. The first reports about the flu, drawing attention to the fact that something different was happening, appeared in the press at the end of May. For example, in the newspaper ABC on 22 May, through a brief note on page 24: "The doctors have verified, in Madrid, the existence of an epidemic of a influenza nature, very widespread, but, fortunately, of a mild nature.'|archive-date=29 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729031647/https://vacunasaep.org/profesionales/noticias/gripe-espanola-1918-parte2|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Associative names===
Many alternative names are [[exonyms]] in the practice of making new [[Infection|infectious diseases]] seem foreign.<ref>{{Cite book|vauthors=Killingray D, Phillips H|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k79_8QX8n44C|title=The Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918–1919: New Perspectives|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-56640-2|quote=In the popular mind calamities often need to have their origin and cause identified and other countries or peoples credited with blame. This xenophobic response has been common in Europe, that impulse to blame others or the silent places of the Asian heartlands for the source of disease.|archive-date=1 October 2024|access-date=3 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001014330/https://books.google.com/books?id=k79_8QX8n44C|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Hoppe>{{cite journal | vauthors = Hoppe T | title = "Spanish Flu": When Infectious Disease Names Blur Origins and Stigmatize Those Infected | journal = American Journal of Public Health | volume = 108 | issue = 11 | pages = 1462–1464 | date = November 2018 | pmid = 30252513 | pmc = 6187801 | doi = 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304645 }}</ref><ref name="Müller"/> This pattern was observed even before the [[1889–1890 pandemic]], also known as the 'Russian flu', when the Russians already called epidemic influenza the 'Chinese catarrh', the Germans called it the 'Russian pest', and the Italians called it the 'German disease'.<ref>{{Cite book|vauthors=Reynolds JR|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XOBDAQAAMAAJ&q=the+Germans+,+the+Russian+pest&pg=PA31|title=A System of Medicine|date=1866|volume=1|pages=30–31|publisher=Macmillan|quote=One is, that every epidemic owns one unknown source, whence it spreads; each nation, in turn, attributing to its neighbour from whom it derived the disease, the unenviable honour of originating it. Thus the Italians have termed it the German disease; the Germans, the Russian pest; the Russians, the Chinese Catarrh;|archive-date=1 October 2024|access-date=24 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001014332/https://books.google.com/books?id=XOBDAQAAMAAJ&q=the+Germans+,+the+Russian+pest&pg=PA31#v=snippet&q=the%20Germans%20%2C%20the%20Russian%20pest&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Editorials: La Grippe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=87tXAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Like+every+other+disease+about+whose+pathology+we+know+very+little,%22&pg=PA217 |journal=Gaillard's Medical Journal |date=January 1890 |veditors=Harrison MA, Claiborne JH Jr |volume=50 |page=217 |quote=The outbreak immediately preceding the present one was in 1879, and has been well described by Da Costa. Like every other disease about whose pathology we know very little, this malady has not a scientifically correct name, but at different times and in different countries has received names which are almost purely local; thus the Russians have called it the Chinese catarrh, because it has often invaded Russia from China. The Germans call it the Russian pest, while the Italians in turn call it the German disease. |archive-date=1 October 2024 |access-date=3 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001014341/https://books.google.com/books?id=87tXAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Like+every+other+disease+about+whose+pathology+we+know+very+little,%22&pg=PA217#v=snippet&q=%22Like%20every%20other%20disease%20about%20whose%20pathology%20we%20know%20very%20little%2C%22&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> These [[epithet]]s were re-used in the 1918 pandemic, along with new ones.<ref name=Davis/>

===='Spanish' influenza====
[[File:The Times 1918-06-28 p8.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|Advertisement in ''[[The Times]]'', 28 June 1918 for Formamint tablets to prevent "Spanish influenza"]]
Outside Spain, the disease was soon misnamed 'Spanish influenza'.{{sfn|Porras-Gallo|Davis|2014|p=51}}{{sfn|Galvin|2007}} In a 2 June 1918 ''[[The Times]]'' of [[London]] dispatch titled, "The Spanish Epidemic," a correspondent in [[Madrid]] reported over 100,000 victims of, "The unknown disease...clearly of a gripal character," without referring to "Spanish influenza" directly.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2 June 1918|title=The Spanish Epidemic|work=[[The Times]]|location=London|url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/article/1918-06-03/5/10.html|access-date=29 July 2021|quote=The unknown disease which appeared in Madrid a fortnight ago spread with remarkable rapidity.... It is reported that there are well over 100,000 victims in Madrid alone.... Although the disease is clearly of a gripal character...|archive-date=21 January 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250121111514/https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/article/1918-06-03/5/10.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Three weeks later <!--on June 25,--> ''The Times'' reported that, "Everybody thinks of it as the 'Spanish' influenza to-day."<ref>{{Cite news|date=25 June 1918|title=The Spanish Influenza; A Sufferer's Symptoms.|work=[[The Times]]|location=London|url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/article/1918-06-25/9/16.html|access-date=29 July 2021|archive-date=21 January 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250121111531/https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/article/1918-06-25/9/16.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Three days after that an advertisement appeared in ''The Times'' for Formamint tablets to prevent "Spanish influenza".<ref>{{Cite news|date=28 June 1918|title=Public Notice; 'Spanish Influenza' Epidemic|work=[[The Times]] |location=London| url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/article/1918-06-28/8/4.html| access-date=11 August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Eat More Onions!|date=13 September 2018|vauthors=Arnold C|url=https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/eat-more-onions|access-date=12 August 2021|website=Lapham's Quarterly|language=en|quote=daily newspapers carried an increasing number of advertisements for influenza-related remedies as drug companies played on the anxieties of readers and reaped the benefits. From the Times of London to the Washington Post, page after page was filled with dozens of advertisements for preventive measures and over-the-counter remedies. 'Influenza!' proclaimed an advert extolling the virtues of Formamint lozenges.|archive-date=12 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812120222/https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/eat-more-onions|url-status=live}}</ref> When it reached Moscow, ''[[Pravda]]'' announced, "{{lang|ru-Latn|Ispánka}} (the Spanish lady) is in town," making 'the Spanish lady' another common name.<ref>{{Cite web|date=29 April 2018|vauthors=Daniels R|title=In Search of an Enigma: The "Spanish Lady"|url=http://www.historyofnimr.org.uk:80/mill-hill-essays/essays-yearly-volumes/1998-2/in-search-of-an-enigma-the-spanish-lady/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429101734/http://www.historyofnimr.org.uk/mill-hill-essays/essays-yearly-volumes/1998-2/in-search-of-an-enigma-the-spanish-lady/|archive-date=29 April 2018|access-date=9 August 2021|website=NIMR History|via=web.archive.org|orig-date=1998 Mill Hill Essays|quote=In turn, when Russia reported on the situation in Moscow, Pravda printed "Ispanka (The Spanish Lady) is in town" and the name has stuck.|url-status=live}}</ref>

The outbreak did not originate in Spain,<ref name=Spain>{{cite journal | vauthors = Trilla A, Trilla G, Daer C | title = The 1918 "Spanish flu" in Spain | journal = Clinical Infectious Diseases | volume = 47 | issue = 5 | pages = 668–673 | date = September 2008 | pmid = 18652556 | doi = 10.1086/590567 }}</ref> but reporting did, due to wartime [[censorship]] in [[belligerent]] nations. Spain was a [[neutral country]] unconcerned with appearances of [[combat readiness]], and without a [[Propaganda#Wartime|wartime propaganda]] machine to prop up [[morale]],<ref>{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100127100727/http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/spanish%20flu%20facts/111285 |archive-date=27 January 2010 |url=http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/spanish%20flu%20facts/111285 |website=Channel&nbsp;4 News |title=Spanish flu facts}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | vauthors = Anderson S |title=Analysis of Spanish flu cases in 1918–1920 suggests transfusions might help in bird flu pandemic |url=http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-08/acop-aos082806.php |publisher=[[American College of Physicians]] |access-date=2 October 2011 |date=29 August 2006 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111125222223/http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-08/acop-aos082806.php |archive-date=25 November 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> so its newspapers [[freedom of the press|freely]] reported epidemic effects, making Spain the apparent locus of the epidemic.{{sfn|Barry|2004|p=171}} The censorship was so effective that Spain's health officials were unaware its neighboring countries were similarly affected.<ref name=Economist>{{Cite news|title=The centenary of the 20th century's worst catastrophe|vauthors=Spinney L|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2018/09/29/the-centenary-of-the-20th-centurys-worst-catastrophe|date=29 September 2018b|access-date=3 August 2021|issn=0013-0613|quote=On June 29th 1918 Martín Salazar, Spain's inspector-general of health, stood up in front of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Madrid. He declared, not without embarrassment, that the disease which was ravaging his country was to be found nowhere else in Europe. In fact, that was not true. The illness in question, influenza, had been sowing misery in France and Britain for weeks, and in America for longer, but Salazar did not know this because the governments of those countries, a group then at war with Germany and its allies, had made strenuous efforts to suppress such potentially morale-damaging news.|archive-date=3 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803021036/https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2018/09/29/the-centenary-of-the-20th-centurys-worst-catastrophe|url-status=live}}</ref> In an October 1918 "Madrid Letter" to the ''[[Journal of the American Medical Association]]'', a Spanish official protested, "we were surprised to learn that the disease was making ravages in other countries, and that people there were calling it the 'Spanish grip'. And wherefore Spanish? ...this epidemic was not born in Spain, and this should be recorded as a historic vindication."<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iohMAQAAMAAJ&q=%22we+were+surprised+to+learn+that+the+disease+was+making+ravages+in+other+countries+,+and+that+people+there+were+calling+it+the+%22+Spanish+grip+.+%E2%80%9D+And+wherefore+Spanish+&pg=PA1594|title=Madrid Letter|journal=[[Journal of the American Medical Association]]|date=9 November 1918|volume=71|issue=19|page=1594|archive-date=1 October 2024|access-date=24 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001014258/https://books.google.com/books?id=iohMAQAAMAAJ&q=%22we+were+surprised+to+learn+that+the+disease+was+making+ravages+in+other+countries+,+and+that+people+there+were+calling+it+the+%22+Spanish+grip+.+%E2%80%9D+And+wherefore+Spanish+&pg=PA1594#v=snippet&q=%22we%20were%20surprised%20to%20learn%20that%20the%20disease%20was%20making%20ravages%20in%20other%20countries%20%2C%20and%20that%20people%20there%20were%20calling%20it%20the%20%22%20Spanish%20grip%20.%20%E2%80%9D%20And%20wherefore%20Spanish&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:The Times 1918-06-25.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|Front page of ''[[The Times]]'' ([[London]]), 25 June 1918: "The Spanish Influenza"]]

====Other exonyms====
French press initially used 'American flu', but adopted 'Spanish flu' in lieu of antagonizing an ally.<ref name=fiction>{{cite journal | vauthors = Vázquez-Espinosa E, Laganà C, Vázquez F | title = The Spanish flu and the fiction literature | journal = Revista Espanola de Quimioterapia | volume = 33 | issue = 5 | pages = 296–312 | date = October 2020 | pmid = 32633114 | pmc = 7528412 | doi = 10.37201/req/049.2020 | quote = French journalists had, initially, called it the 'American flu'; but the fact that the American soldiers were his allies in the warlike conflict advised not to assign such a link to them.... Another most popular name in Madrid, was the 'Soldado de Nápoles' (Naples soldier), a popular song in the zarzuela (popular musical genre or 'género chico' in Spain) called ''La canción del olvido'' (The forgotten song) due both, were 'highly contagious'. Today, there are many authors who avoid such a name (the Spanish flu) and they aptly refer to it as the '1918- 1819[sic] influenza pandemic' }}</ref> In the spring of 1918, British soldiers called it 'Flanders flu', while German soldiers used '{{lang|de|Flandern-Fieber}}' (Flemish fever), both after a [[Battle of the Lys (1918)|battlefield]] in [[Belgium]] where many soldiers on both sides fell ill.<ref name=Davis>{{Cite book|vauthors=Davis KC|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1034984776|title=More deadly than war : the hidden history of the Spanish flu and the First World War|date=2018|isbn=978-1-250-14512-3|edition=First|location=New York | publisher = Henry Holt and Company |oclc=1034984776|quote=The Russians called it the Chinese flu. In Japan, it was wrestler's fever. In South Africa, it was known as either the white man's sickness or kaffersiekte blacks' disease. Soldiers fighting in the Great War called it the three-day fever—a highly inaccurate description—and when it first struck in the spring of 1918, German soldiers called it Flanders fever, after one of the war's most notorious and deadly battlefields}}</ref><ref name="Müller">{{Cite journal|vauthors=Bax D|year=2020|issue=13|title=Pandemie – Welt im Fieber|trans-title=Pandemic – World in Fever|url=https://www.freitag.de/autoren/der-freitag/welt-im-fieber|access-date=31 July 2021|newspaper=Der Freitag|language=de|quote=In Großbritannien wurde die Krankheit dagegen als 'Flandrische Grippe' bezeichnet, weil sich viele —en in den Schützengräben von Flandern ansteckten.|trans-quote=In Britain, on the other hand, the disease was called the 'Flanders flu' because many soldiers became infected in the trenches of Flanders.|archive-date=31 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731023931/https://www.freitag.de/autoren/der-freitag/welt-im-fieber|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=fes>{{Cite web|title=Spanische Grippe|trans-title=The Spanish Flu|vauthors=Müller S|location=[[Bonn]]|year=2020|url=https://www.fes.de/themenportal-geschichte-kultur-medien-netz/geschichte/spanische-grippe|access-date=31 July 2021|website=www.fes.de|publisher=Friedrich Ebert Foundation|language=de|quote=In Europa wurde die Spanischer Grippe auch als 'Blitzkatarrh', als 'Flandern-Fieber', 'flandische Grippe', bei Engländern und Amerikanern als 'three-day'- oder 'knock-me-down'-Fieber, und in Frankreich als 'la grippe', als 'bronchite purulente' (eitrige Bronchitis) oder beim französische Militärärzte als 'Krankheit 11' (maladie onze) bezeichnet. Die Benennung von Krankheiten und insbesondere Seuchen nach ihrem vermuteten Ursprungsort ist nichts Ungewöhnliches. Es ist der Versuch, einem Geschehen auf die Spur zu kommen. Zugleich werden auf diese Weise Krankheiten als etwas Äußerliches gekennzeichnet, als etwas Fremdes, das eingedrungen ist oder eingeschleppt wurde.|trans-quote=In Europe, the Spanish flu was also referred to as 'Blitzkatarrh', as 'Flanders fever', 'Flanders flu', in English and Americans as 'three-day' or 'knock-me-down' fever, and in France as 'la flu', as 'bronchite purulente' (purulent bronchitis) or by French military doctors as 'disease 11' (maladie onze). The naming of diseases and especially epidemics according to their presumed place of origin is nothing unusual. It is an attempt to track down what is happening. At the same time, in this way, diseases are marked as something external, as something foreign that has invaded or been introduced.|archive-date=31 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731023932/https://www.fes.de/themenportal-geschichte-kultur-medien-netz/geschichte/spanische-grippe|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=IRCC>{{Cite web|vauthors=Cotter C|date=23 April 2020|title=From the 'Spanish Flu' to COVID-19: lessons from the 1918 pandemic and First World War|url=https://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/2020/04/23/spanish-flu-covid-19-1918-pandemic-first-world-war/|access-date=7 August 2021|series=Humanitarian Law & Policy|publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]]|quote=Many other nicknames were given to the pandemic, many based on nationality or race: 'Spanish Lady', 'French Flu', 'Naples Soldier', 'Purple Death', 'War Plague', 'Flanders Grippe', 'Kirghiz Disease', 'Black Man's Disease', 'Hun Flu', 'German Plague', 'Bolshevik Disease' or even the 'Turco-Germanic bacterium criminal entreprise'. These discriminatory epithets reflect the many rumors and theories that quickly spread about the origins of the pathology.|archive-date=7 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210807235800/https://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/2020/04/23/spanish-flu-covid-19-1918-pandemic-first-world-war/|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[Senegal]] it was named 'Brazilian flu', and in [[Brazil]], 'German flu'.{{sfn|Spinney|2018|p=58}} In Spain it was also known as the 'French flu' ({{lang|es|gripe francesa}}),<ref name=Spain/><ref name=Friday>{{Cite web|vauthors=Mayer J|title=The Origin Of The Name 'Spanish Flu'|url=https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/the-origin-of-the-spanish-flu/|date=29 January 2019|access-date=30 July 2021|website=Science Friday|quote=Etymology: In ancient times, before epidemiology science, people believed the stars and "heavenly bodies" flowed into us and dictated our lives and health—influenza means 'to influence' in Italian, and the word stems from the Latin for 'flow in.' Sickness, like other unexplainable events, was attributed to the influence of the stars... But the name for the infamous 1918 outbreak, the Spanish flu, is actually a misnomer.|archive-date=29 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129222525/https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/the-origin-of-the-spanish-flu/|url-status=live}}</ref> or the 'Naples Soldier' ({{lang|es|Soldado de Nápoles}}), after a popular song from a [[zarzuela]].{{efn|Then paying in [[Madrid]],''The Song of Forgetting'' ({{lang|es|La canción del olvido}})—because the tune was as catchy as the flu.{{sfn|Davis|2013|pp=103–36}}}}<ref name=fiction/> Spanish flu ({{lang|es|gripe española}}) is now a common name in Spain,<ref>{{cite web | vauthors = Landgrebe P |title=100 Years After: The Name of Death |url=https://historycampus.org/2018/spanish-flu-100-years-—-name-of-the-death/ |publisher=History Campus |access-date=16 August 2020 |date=29 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200816202544/https://historycampus.org/2018/spanish-flu-100-years-after-name-of-the-death/ |archive-date=16 August 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> but remains controversial there.<ref name="Rodríguez 2019">{{Cite news|vauthors=Rodríguez LP, Palomba AL|date=5 March 2019|title=How is the adjective 'Spanish' used in other languages?|work=[[El País]]|edition=English|location=[[Madrid]]|url=https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2019/02/19/inenglish/1550570720_431591.html|access-date=1 August 2021|quote=The use of 'Spanish' can often have negative connotations, with the adjective often unfairly used to describe unwelcome events and problems. The most obvious example is the so-called 'Spanish flu,' a reference to the 1918 influenza pandemic...|archive-date=1 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801144508/https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2019/02/19/inenglish/1550570720_431591.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="CBC 2020">{{cite news | vauthors=O'Reilly T | series=Under the Influence | title=How the Spanish Flu wasn't Spanish at all | work=[[CBC Radio]] | date=13 May 2020 | url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence/how-the-spanish-flu-wasn-t-spanish-at-all-1.5607552 | access-date=1 August 2021 | quote=Medical professionals and officials in Spain protested. They said the Spanish people were being falsely stigmatized.... If you've ever wondered about the staying power of a brand, the 'Spanish Flu' is a case in point. A full 100 years later, the 'Spanish Flu' is still referenced — and still remains a source of irritation in Spain. | archive-date=1 August 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801144506/https://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence/how-the-spanish-flu-wasn-t-spanish-at-all-1.5607552 | url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Other (philosophy)|Othering]] derived from geopolitical borders and social boundaries.{{Sfn|Dionne|Turkmen|2020}}<ref name="v885">{{cite journal |last1=Ristić |first1=Dušan |last2=Marinković |first2=Dušan |date=2022-11-14 |title=Biopolitics of othering during the COVID-19 pandemic |journal=Humanities and Social Sciences Communications |publisher=Palgrave |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=409 |doi=10.1057/s41599-022-01435-7 |issn=2662-9992 |pmc=9662131 |pmid=36406151 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In Poland it was the '[[Bolshevik]] disease',{{sfn|Spinney|2018|p=58}}<ref name=Takon>{{Cite web|vauthors=Takon L|date=7 April 2020|title=Fighting words: how war metaphors can trigger racism|url=https://lighthouse.mq.edu.au/article/march/Fighting-words-how-war-metaphors-can-trigger-racism|access-date=8 August 2021|website=The Lighthouse|publisher=[[Macquarie University]]|language=en-au|quote=the names given to this disease in different parts of the world reflected prevailing concerns about certain ethnic groups and ideologies. The disease was called the 'Singapore fever' in Penang and the Bolshevik disease in Poland.|archive-date=8 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808221751/https://lighthouse.mq.edu.au/article/march/Fighting-words-how-war-metaphors-can-trigger-racism|url-status=live}}</ref> while in Russia it was referred to it as the '[[Kyrgyz people|Kirghiz]] disease'.<ref name=IRCC/> Some Africans called it a 'white man's sickness', but in [[South Africa]], white men also used the [[ethnophaulism]] {{lang|af|[[Kaffir (racial term)|'kaffersiekte']]}} ({{lit|[[negro]] disease}}).<ref name=Davis/><ref>{{Cite book|vauthors=Phillips H|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DktxAAAAMAAJ&q=In+one+area+where+Blacks+were+the+first+victims+,+the+accusatory+term+,+%E2%80%9C+Kaffersiekte+%E2%80%9D+was+coined|title=Black October: The Impact of the Spanish Influenza Epidemic of 1918 on South Africa|date=1990|publisher=Government Printer, South Africa|isbn=978-0-7970-1580-7|language=en|quote=In one area where Blacks were the first victims, the accusatory term  'Kaffersiekte' was coined; in another district, where the position was reversed, Blacks returned the compliment with, White man's sickness'|archive-date=1 October 2024|access-date=12 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001014333/https://books.google.com/books?id=DktxAAAAMAAJ&q=In+one+area+where+Blacks+were+the+first+victims+,+the+accusatory+term+,+%E2%80%9C+Kaffersiekte+%E2%80%9D+was+coined|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Japan]] blamed [[sumo]] wrestlers for bringing the disease home from [[Taiwan#Japanese rule (1895–1945)|Taiwan]], calling it 'sumo flu' ({{lang|ja-Latn<!--|相撲風邪-->|Sumo Kaze}}).<ref>{{Cite news|script-title=ja:余録: 「春のさきぶれ」といえば何か聞こえが良いが...|trans-title=Speaking of "spring sekibu", something sounds good...|date=15 May 2020|url=https://mainichi.jp/articles/20200515/ddm/001/070/126000c|access-date=8 August 2021|script-work=ja:=毎日新聞|trans-work=Mainichi Shimbun morning newspaper|language=ja|script-quote=ja:翌月の東京の夏場所は高熱などによる全休力士が相次いだ.世間はこれを「相撲風邪」「力士風邪」と呼んだが、実はこの謎の感染症こそが同年初めから米国で流行の始まった「スペイン風邪」とみられている.|trans-quote=The following month, a number of sumo wrestlers were absent from the summer tournament in Tokyo due to high fevers. People called it the "sumo flu" or "wrestler flu," but in fact, this mysterious infection is believed to be the Spanish flu, which began spreading in the United States early that year.|archive-date=8 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808050339/https://mainichi.jp/articles/20200515/ddm/001/070/126000c|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=How the Spanish flu of 1918-20 ravaged Japan|url=https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/how-the-spanish-flu-of-1918-20-ravaged-japan|access-date=8 August 2021|website=Japan Today|date=6 May 2020|language=en|quote=The first patients in Japan, reported Shukan Gendai (May 2–9), began showing symptoms around April 1918. Initially the disease was referred to as the "Sumo Kaze" (sumo cold) because a contingent of sumo wrestlers contracted it while on a tour of Taiwan. Three well known grapplers, Masagoishi, Choshunada and Wakagiyama, died before they could return from Taiwan. As the contagion spread, the summer sumo tournament, which would have been held on the grounds of Yasukuni shrine, was cancelled.|archive-date=8 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808050338/https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/how-the-spanish-flu-of-1918-20-ravaged-japan|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[World Health Organization]] 'best practices' first published in 2015 now aim to prevent [[social stigma]] by not associating [[Cultural heritage|culturally significant]] names with new diseases, listing "Spanish flu" under "examples to be avoided".{{Sfn|Dionne|Turkmen|2020|pp=213–230}}<ref name=Hoppe/><ref>{{Cite web|title=WHO issues best practices for naming new human infectious diseases|url=https://www.who.int/news/item/08-05-2015-who-issues-best-practices-for-naming-new-human-infectious-diseases|date=8 May 2015|access-date=4 August 2021|website=www.who.int|language=en|archive-date=31 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731160224/https://www.who.int/news/item/08-05-2015-who-issues-best-practices-for-naming-new-human-infectious-diseases|url-status=live}}</ref>  Many authors now eschew calling this the Spanish flu,<ref name=fiction/> instead using variations of '1918–19/20 flu/influenza pandemic'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.who.int/influenza/pandemic-influenza-an-evolving-challenge/en/ |title=Pandemic influenza: an evolving challenge |date=22 May 2018 |website=World Health Organization |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200320220124/https://www.who.int/influenza/pandemic-influenza-an-evolving-challenge/en/ |archive-date=20 March 2020 |access-date=20 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url= https://www.britannica.com/event/influenza-pandemic-of-1918-1919 |title=Influenza pandemic of 1918–19 |date=4 March 2020 |website=[[Encyclopaedia Britannica]] |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200320220920/https://www.britannica.com/event/influenza-pandemic-of-1918-1919 |archive-date=20 March 2020 |access-date=20 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |vauthors=Chodosh S |url=https://www.popsci.com/story/health/coronavirus-1918-flu-pandemic/ |title=What the 1918 flu pandemic can teach us about COVID-19, in four charts |date=18 March 2020 |work=PopSci |access-date=20 March 2020 |archive-date=24 December 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224025632/https://www.popsci.com/story/health/coronavirus-1918-flu-pandemic/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Local names===
Some language [[endonyms]] did not name specific regions or groups of people. Examples specific to this pandemic include: {{langx|nd|'Malibuzwe'}} (let enquiries be made concerning it), {{langx|sw|'Ugonjo huo kichwa na kukohoa na kiuno'}} (the disease of head and coughing and spine),<ref name="Muller-1998">{{Cite conference |vauthors=Mueller JW |date=1998 |title=What's in a name. Spanish Influenza in sub-Saharan Africa and what local names say about the perception of this pandemic |url=https://www.academia.edu/23653135 |conference=Spanish 'Flu 1918–1998: Reflections on the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 after 80 Years |place=Cape Town, South Africa |access-date=13 August 2021 |archive-date=30 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130153656/https://www.academia.edu/23653135 |url-status=live }}</ref> {{langx|yao|'chipindupindu'}} (disease from seeking to make a profit in wartime), {{langx|hz|'kaapitohanga'}} (disease which passes through like a bullet),<ref>{{Cite web|vauthors=Phillips H|date=8 October 2014|title=Influenza Pandemic (Africa)|publisher=International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)|url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/influenza_pandemic_africa|access-date=13 August 2021|website=encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net|archive-date=13 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813130222/https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/influenza_pandemic_africa|url-status=live}}</ref><!--When it arrived in [[Tehran]] in [[Qajar Iran]] high winds were blamed for the rapid spread, so it was called the--> and {{langx|fa-Latn|<!--ناخوشی-ای باد-->nakhushi-yi bad}} (disease of the wind).<ref>{{Cite book|author=Great Britain Ministry of Health|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FjxQAQAAMAAJ&q=the+affliction+was+called+%E2%80%9Cthe+disease+of+the+wind%22|title=Report on the Pandemic of Influenza, 1918–19|date=1920|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office|quote=There was a high west wind at the time and this was thought to be the carrying agent so that the affliction was called 'the disease of the wind.'|archive-date=1 October 2024|access-date=24 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001014316/https://books.google.com/books?id=FjxQAQAAMAAJ&q=the+affliction+was+called+%E2%80%9Cthe+disease+of+the+wind%22#v=snippet&q=the%20affliction%20was%20called%20%E2%80%9Cthe%20disease%20of%20the%20wind%22&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|vauthors=Afkhami AA|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SiiGDwAAQBAJ&q=In+Tehran,+the+disease+was+called+the+%E2%80%9Cillness+of+the+wind%E2%80%9D+(nakhushi-yi+bad)&pg=PA157|title=A Modern Contagion: Imperialism and Public Health in Iran's Age of Cholera|date=5 February 2019|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-1-4214-2722-5|language=en|quote=In Tehran, the disease was called the "illness of the wind" (nakhushi-yi bad) due to its initial occurrence during a strong westerly wind burst and its rapid spread.|archive-date=1 October 2024|access-date=24 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001014337/https://books.google.com/books?id=SiiGDwAAQBAJ&q=In+Tehran,+the+disease+was+called+the+%E2%80%9Cillness+of+the+wind%E2%80%9D+(nakhushi-yi+bad)&pg=PA157#v=snippet&q=In%20Tehran%2C%20the%20disease%20was%20called%20the%20%E2%80%9Cillness%20of%20the%20wind%E2%80%9D%20(nakhushi-yi%20bad)&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Other names===
This outbreak was also commonly known as the 'great influenza epidemic',<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5HA6AQAAMAAJ&q=%22great+influenza+epidemic%22&pg=PA609|title=Archives of Internal Medicine|date=1919|volume=24|location=[[Chicago]]|publisher=[[American Medical Association]]|quote=As this included the period of the great influenza epidemic when Type IV infections were usually prevalent, it will be seen that the proportion of fixed types among carriers and among cases is not far from the same.|archive-date=1 October 2024|access-date=24 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001014337/https://books.google.com/books?id=5HA6AQAAMAAJ&q=%22great+influenza+epidemic%22&pg=PA609#v=snippet&q=%22great%20influenza%20epidemic%22&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=United States Surgeon-General's Office|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rg9AAAAAYAAJ&q=%22great+influenza+epidemic%22&pg=PA2154|title=Report of the Surgeon-General of the Army to the Secretary of War for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1919|series=War Department Annual Reports|volume=I|date=1920|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|quote=On September 13, 1918, the first cases of the great influenza epidemic were admitted, and during the next 10 weeks over 4,100 patients were admitted.|archive-date=1 October 2024|access-date=24 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001014914/https://books.google.com/books?id=rg9AAAAAYAAJ&q=%22great+influenza+epidemic%22&pg=PA2154#v=snippet&q=%22great%20influenza%20epidemic%22&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> after the 'great war', a common name for [[World War I]] before [[World War II]].{{sfn|Barry|2004b}} French military doctors originally called it 'disease 11' ({{lang|fr|maladie onze}}).<ref name="Müller"/> German doctors downplayed the severity by calling it 'pseudo influenza' ({{langx|la|link=no|pseudo}}, false), while in Africa, doctors tried to get patients to take it more seriously by calling it 'influenza vera' ({{langx|la|link=no|vera}}, true).<ref>{{harvnb|Spinney|2018|p=64}}: "In ... Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) ... officials labelled the new affliction 'influenza (vera)', adding the Latin word vera, meaning 'true' ... German doctors ... called it 'pseudo-influenza'"</ref>

A [[children's song]] from the 1889–90 flu pandemic<!-- also based on this mistaken idea that wind was a [[disease vector]],--><ref>{{Cite news|vauthors=Cross A|title=A look at art and music created in times of pandemic|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/6735528/alan-cross-art-pandemic-coronavirus/|date=29 March 2020|access-date=9 August 2021|work=Global News (Canada)|quote=Another rhyme with deadly origins appeared during a worldwide influenza pandemic in 1889–1890. Certain the disease could be stopped by sealing up the home from the poisoned air outside, this safety tip emerged in schools: There was a little girl, and she had a little bird; And she called it by the pretty name of Enza; But one day it flew away, but it didn't go to stay; For when she raised the window, in-flu-Enza|archive-date=10 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810020632/https://globalnews.ca/news/6735528/alan-cross-art-pandemic-coronavirus/|url-status=live}}</ref> was shortened and adapted into a [[skipping-rope rhyme]] popular in 1918.<ref>{{Cite web|author=University Libraries|title=WWI Exhibit: Influenza Pandemic|url=https://content.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/WWI/influenza.html|access-date=9 August 2021|website=content.lib.washington.edu|publisher=[[University of Washington]]|archive-date=9 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809125534/https://content.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/WWI/influenza.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|vauthors=Hakim J|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TYq1SeWvS9oC&q=I+had+a+little+bird,+And+its+name+was+Enza.+I+opened+up+the+window,+And+in+flew+Enza.&pg=PA21|title=War, Peace, and All that Jazz|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-515335-4|quote=In flew Enza—say it fast and it becomes 'influenza.' It was a catchy little rhyme, and boys and girls skipped rope to it.|archive-date=1 October 2024|access-date=24 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001014936/https://books.google.com/books?id=TYq1SeWvS9oC&q=I+had+a+little+bird,+And+its+name+was+Enza.+I+opened+up+the+window,+And+in+flew+Enza.&pg=PA21#v=snippet&q=I%20had%20a%20little%20bird%2C%20And%20its%20name%20was%20Enza.%20I%20opened%20up%20the%20window%2C%20And%20in%20flew%20Enza.&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> It is a [[metaphor]] for the [[Transmission (medicine)|transmissibility]] of 'Influenza', where that name was [[Clipping (morphology)|clipped]] to 'Enza':<ref>{{Cite book|vauthors=Honigsbaum M|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=74RJDQAAQBAJ&q=Enza|title=Living with Enza: The Forgotten Story of Britain and the Great Flu Pandemic of 1918|year=2016|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-230-23921-0|quote=A popular playground skipping rhyme caught the ease with which this 'new disease' was transmitted: I had a little bird; Its name was Enza; I opened the window; And in-flu-enza. As influenza spread from Glasgow to Aberdeen, and from Liverpool to London's Mile End, it was not long before playgrounds throughout the country echoed to the chant.|archive-date=1 October 2024|access-date=24 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241001014915/https://books.google.com/books?id=74RJDQAAQBAJ&q=Enza#v=snippet&q=Enza&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|vauthors=March PC|author-link=Peyton C. March|title=General March's Narrative: Glimpses of Woodrow Wilson|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=4 September 1932|page=XX3, Special Features section|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/09/04/archives/general-marchs-narrative-glimpses-of-woodrow-wilson-the-wartime.html|archive-date=10 August 2021|access-date=10 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810020628/https://www.nytimes.com/1932/09/04/archives/general-marchs-narrative-glimpses-of-woodrow-wilson-the-wartime.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title=The 1918 Flu Pandemic Killed Hundreds of Thousands of Americans. The White House Never Said a Word About It|url=https://time.com/5877129/1918-pandemic-white-house/|access-date=10 August 2021|magazine=Time|quote=Crosby's America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918, Wilson asked Army Chief of Staff General Peyton March in October 1918 if he had heard of the popular jump rope rhyme parodying the virus, and recited part of it.|archive-date=10 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810020630/https://time.com/5877129/1918-pandemic-white-house/|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{poem quote| I had a little bird,<br />its name was Enza.<br />I opened the window,<br />and in-flu-enza.}}