Etymology of Corona Virus - Naming names....

As the Current Unpleasantness drags on I struggle to find things to write about.  It's not as if I'm doing anything fun.

So how 'bout a week of Disease Etymology, starting with everyone's fave, Corona Virus.

Corona viruses are so called because under an electron microscope they have projections going out in all directions.  This reminded early investigators of the "corona" in the sense of light radiating out from the sun.  But the word is very old and generally means other things.

In Latin corona means "crown".  If you picture a stock image of a medieval king with that pointy headgear you get a bit of a sense of radiating things, but in Roman times it was a bit more explicit, with the "rays" being in addition an emanation of wisdom, or power or noble worth.  You see this on assorted coins of the era...

Of course the Romans had some original words and ideas but swiped both on a wholesale basis from the Greeks.  In Greek the word is korone.  It meant "curved", and likely was a reference to the laurels that were often used to honor the worthy in ancient times.  Of course there are coins for that also...

The concept of a laurel wreath as a badge of honor still lingers on in odd corners of our world.  Consider for instance the title Poet Laureate.  

There is some debate as to how the curved part of the word came to be.  Some hold that the beaks of crows have that kind of shape and that it carried over.  Crows have been designated as the genus Corvus and given their reputation for being harbingers of ill fortune this might be an appropriate and millennia long curving around to get to the modern covid-19.

As always there are parallel words that also come down to us from the same source.  Cornice for the "crowning" portions of a building.  Also, oddly, coronary which initially referred specifically to the arteries supplying the heart.  Anatomists in the 1600's noted that they curved down around the muscular portions of the heart as they supplied it with blood.

With a word this ancient and with largely positive, regal connotations, it is no surprise that advertisers have latched onto it.  Some are now regretting this.  On a vital supply run I did inquire and learned that sales of Corona Beer are down 50%.  I have no data on the resale value of Toyota Corollas.