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il mal caduco

English translation: the falling sickness/morbus caducus/the devil's grip

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Italian term or phrase:il mal caduco (epilessia)
English translation:the falling sickness/morbus caducus/the devil's grip
Entered by: Nicole Johnson

20:31 Jul 5, 2007
Italian to English translations [PRO]
Medical - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / History of Medicinal Herbs
Italian term or phrase: il mal caduco
Does anyone know if a translation exists for this "traditional" term for epilepsy? If not, how could I render it justice in English?

Thanks for any suggestions.


Oltre alla ben nota azione antidepressiva (anticamente indicata con il termine “scacciadiavoli”) e all’attività antiinfiammatoria e antisettica per uso esterno, gli antichi testi parlano anche di un antico uso dell’Iperico “contro il mal caduco”, terminologia anticamente utilizzata per indicare l’epilessia.
Nicole Johnson
Italy
Local time: 14:04
"the falling sickness"
Explanation:
I'm pretty sure that's it ...
Selected response from:

Vittorina Klingbeil (X)
Germany
Local time: 14:04
Grading comment
Thanks to all of you for the great suggestions. I'm going with Victoria's more literal translation, since I want to remain as faithful as possible to the source text. I may however take texjax up on her suggestion to also provide the Latin term. I also liked potra's suggestion and may get it in somewhere elso in the text. Again, many, many thanks.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3"the falling sickness"
Vittorina Klingbeil (X)
4 +1morbus caducus
texjax DDS PhD
4epilepsy
Gian
3the devil's grip
potra


  

Answers


22 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
"the falling sickness"


Explanation:
I'm pretty sure that's it ...


    Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Falling-Sickness-Epilepsy-Beginnings-N...
Vittorina Klingbeil (X)
Germany
Local time: 14:04
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in ItalianItalian
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks to all of you for the great suggestions. I'm going with Victoria's more literal translation, since I want to remain as faithful as possible to the source text. I may however take texjax up on her suggestion to also provide the Latin term. I also liked potra's suggestion and may get it in somewhere elso in the text. Again, many, many thanks.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  texjax DDS PhD
1 hr

agree  irenef: definitely 'the falling sickness'
10 hrs

agree  silvia b (X)
16 hrs
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30 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
epilepsy


Explanation:
Diz. Hoepli mal caduco (popol) epilepsy

[PDF] TITOLO IVFormato file: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
eccezione dell’epilessia (mal caduco) per la quale è di un anno e tre giorni. 22. II pagamento viene in genere effettuato non oltre i quindici giorni. ...
www.bo.camcom.it/REGISTRO-I/REGOLAZION/TITOLO-IV.pdf - Pagine simili


Gian
Italy
Local time: 14:04
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in ItalianItalian
PRO pts in category: 8
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33 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
the devil's grip


Explanation:
I think that the falling sickness is actually the correct term, but since epilepsy was associated in the past with demonic possession and you mention, I gave it my own try, maybe you could find it useful.

potra
United States
Local time: 09:04
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in ItalianItalian, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 13
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
morbus caducus


Explanation:
Poiché si parla di storia, io metterei il nome latino. La miglior resa inlgese è "falling sickness" (suggerito da Vittorina, giustissimo), quindi potresti scrivere entrambi, magari mettendo il secondo tra parentesi.

Ancient Rome had intimate knowledge of epilepsy. They called it by various names including morbus caducus [the falling sickness]; morbus comitialis [disease of the assembly hall.] It was a standing Roman custom to shut down the public assembly [comitia ] for ritual purification whenever any legislator experienced a seizure; morbus sacer [the sacred sickness]; or morbus demoniacus [the demonic sickness.] In Act 1, scene 2 of Shakespeare'sjulius Caesar, Casca recounts one of Caesar's many epileptic attacks: "He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at the mouth, and was speechless." Brutus responds: "'Tis very like, he hath the failing sickness." Indeed, epilepsy seemed to have been so common amongst the leaders of antiquity [eg, Caesar, Alexander the Great, even Caligula] that some thought it to be a necessary prelude to military greatness
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Clinical_Neurosciences/arti...

Epilepsy was well known in ancient times, and was regarded as a special infliction of the gods, hence the names morbus sacer, morbus divas. It was also termed morbus Herculeus, from Hercules having been supposed to have been epileptic, and morbus comitialis, from the circumstance that when any member of the forum was seized with an epileptic fit the assembly was broken up. Morbus caducus, morbus lunaticus astralis, morbus demoniacus, morbus major, were all terms employed to designate epilepsy.
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Epilepsy



texjax DDS PhD
Local time: 09:04
Native speaker of: Native in ItalianItalian
PRO pts in category: 20

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Umberto Cassano: I like this one.
1 hr
  -> Maximas tibi gratias ago!
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