Its Wednesday, so it must be Word of the Week. Did you see what I did with the alliteration there? I figured it'd help remind me to post on Wednesdays :)
Anyhows, I decided to go for a word that seemed very appropriate right now since I've come down with what seems to be plague, although it could possibly be a cold I guess...So our word this week is:
valetudinarianism
a noun in use in the early nineteenth century, meaning a tendency to be in poor health or to be unduly concerned with one's health.
This derived from the early eighteenth century noun: valetudinarian, which meant a person in poor health or a person who unduly worries about their health. The word comes from the Latin valetudinarius meaning in ill health.
Interesting how the Latin based valetudinarianism has disappeared from our vocuabulary but we use instead, hyperchondriac, which comes from Ancient Greek.
Sources:
Shorter Oxford Dictionary (2 volumes) 6th edition, 2007
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/valetudinarianism
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hypochondria
Von (who now returns, coughing and sniffling, to wallow in her pit of self pity).
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