king's eviln.

Brit.

/ˌkɪŋz ˈiːvl/, U.S.

/ˌkɪŋz ˈiv(ə)l/

Forms: see king n. and evil adj. and n.¹; also Middle English kyngel evel (transmission error).

Origin: Formed within English, by compounding; modelled on a Latin lexical item. Etymons: king n., evil n.¹

Etymology: < the genitive of king n. + evil n.¹, after post-classical Latin regius morbus scrofula (perhaps 9th cent.; from 11th cent. in British sources; earlier denoting leprosy (4th or 5th cent. in Jerome; from 8th cent. in British sources), and in classical Latin denoting jaundice). Compare Anglo-Norman mal le rei (13th cent. or earlier). Compare Middle Dutch conincsevel (1470; Dutch koningseuvel ). Compare later evil n.¹ 7c, and also queen's evil n. at queen n. Compounds 3b, royal evil n. at royal adj. and n. Compounds 1.Compare Old English cynelic adl ( < kinely adj. + adle n.; early Middle English cunelic adle ), translating post-classical Latin morbus regius in the sense ‘jaundice’, although the added explanation in the following example shows that the translator believes that the disease is characterized by spasm of the sinews and swelling of the feet:OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) lxxxvii. 126 Wið þa cynelican adle [OE Harl. 585 cynelican adle; ?a1200 Harl. 6258B cunelican adle; L. ad morbum regium] þe man aurignem nemneð þæt ys on ure geþeode þæra syna getoh & fota geswel.(In MS Harley 585 cynelican is glossed kinkes (i.e. ‘king's’) in a later hand (a1300).) For further discussion of the use of the post-classical Latin medical term and its vernacular equivalents and the history of healing of certain diseases by the monarch's touch (see sense 1) see F. Barlow in Eng. Hist. Review 95 (1980) 3–27.

Now historical.

1. Scrofula (tuberculous infection of the lymph nodes of the neck).In both France and England, scrofula was formerly thought to be curable by the monarch's touch (cf. touch v. 1f). The ceremonial rite of touching probably began in both countries in the 13th cent., and in England continued until the end of the reign of Queen Anne (1714).The name may also have been used for other types of swelling of the lymph nodes or glands of the neck.

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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of visible parts > eruptive diseases > [noun] > scrofula

king's evila1387

scrofulac1400

escroeles1483

swine's evil1528

strume1559

struma1565

queen's evil1584

evila1616

crewels1660

royal evila1678

scrofulosis1860

scrofulide1864

scrofulodermia1899

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1874) V. 47 The secounde prayede þat þe kynges evel moste destroye hym, bote it were sooth that he seide... Þe grete Ȝye of Goddis ordynaunce..destroyed the secounde witnesse by the kyngel evel [read kynges evel; ?a1475 anon. tr. the kynges sekenesse; L. regio morbo].

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. cxxxiii. 1027 Smylle of leek..heleþ the kynges yuel and þe dropesye.

?a1450 Agnus Castus (Stockh.) (1950) 174 Ȝef a man hawe þe kynggis euyl, take þe rote of þis herbe [sc. Lapasium] and sethe hem in wyn, and drynke þat wyn, and he schal ben hol ȝef he it vse often.

1482 W. Caxton tr. Higden's Prolicionycion iv. xviii. f. CCiiij The second wytnes prayd that the kynges euil muste destroye hym but yf it were sothe that he sayde.

1526 Grete Herball cxvi. sig. G.iv^v/2 Dyascorides sayth that it [sc. coryandre] is colde, and that it deuydeth, and wasteth the kyrnelles called the kyngys euyll.

1580 J. Lyly Euphues & his Eng. (new ed.) f. 51 Ther is nothing that can cure the Kings euills, but a Prince.

1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 340 The seauenth Sonne is able to cure the Kings Euill.

1660 S. Pepys Diary 23 June (1970) I. 182 Stayed to see the King touch people of the King's evil.

1722 W. Beckett (title) A Free and Impartial Inquiry into the Antiquity and Efficacy of Touching for the King's Evil.

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1712 I. 11 Young Johnson had the misfortune to be much afflicted with the scrophula, or king's evil... His mother..carried him to London, where he was actually touched by Queen Anne.

1839 T. Keightley Hist. Eng. (new ed.) I. 66 The Confessor was the first who touched for the King's evil.

1899 W. Besant Orange Girl i. iv. 45 Rheumatism, gout, and the King's Evil.

1911 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 21 Oct. 962/2 In his [sc. William Harvey] time the principal treatment for les scrofules dites écrouelles—that is to say, cases of scrofula or king's evil—was the Royal touch, which was said to be of special virtue when the Sovereign had just been consecrated.

2012 S. Duncan Mary I vi. 124 The next day, however, Mary touched for the king's evil with only 20 people in attendance.

†2. figurative and in figurative contexts. A political, social, or personal affliction or problem, which either may be cured in some way by a king (in various senses of the noun), or which is thought characteristic of a king or other person in authority. Obsolete.

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1595 T. W. tr. P. Leroy et al. Pleasant Satyre 56 I say not therefore to heale the kings euill [Fr. escrouelles] or great poxe (wherewith his Southerly countries are very sore infected) hee maketh not any reckoning of the deuout inhabitants of his good towne of Paris, to receiue them as his good subiects and servants.

1648 Behold, Summe of All Blood (single sheet) It [sc. a Personall Treaty] is as well an excellent salve to cure all sores, as a soveraign remedy for all diseases, whether it be, The Kings Evill, or the Parliaments Evill, or the House of Lords evill.

1660 Anglia Rediviva 2 This healing touch reviv'd Her [sc. Britainy] drooping state, and promis'd a long-liv'd Felicity, which nothing els could bring, For her King's-Evill was to want her King.

1661 in S. Annesley Morning-exercise at Cripplegate xxi. 515 Sloth is the Kings Evil of the soul, and none but the King of Heaven can cure it by his hand, which is his Spirit.

1692 J. Washington tr. J. Milton Def. People Eng. v. 121 You had not then been bribed with Charles his Jacobusses. You had not got the King's-Evil.

1860 F. W. Faber Spiritual Conf. (ed. 2) 234 Self-deceit is the king's evil of the soul, and the Sovereign's hand alone can cure it.

1912 Metropolitan Apr. 12/1 Others still who had become over-rash through the long development of this king's evil or megalomania, refused to ‘go quietly’.

Derivatives

† king's-evil'd adj. Obsolete rare affected with the king's evil.

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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of visible parts > eruptive diseases > [adjective] > affected with scrofula

strumous1583

strumatic1656

king's-evil'd1702

king's-evilly1706

scrofulous1711

strumose1850

strumiferous1860

scrofulitic1866

strumatous1894

1702 J. Floyer Anc. Ψυχρολουσία Revived Postscr. 281 Their Children..Ricketty, King's-Evil'd, or Consumptive.

† king's-evilly adj. Obsolete rare affected with the king's evil.

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