The Genealogist's Resource for Interpreting Causes of Death

Antiquus Morbus is a fascinating web site that provides definitions of archaic medical terms, along with their old and modern definitions. The primary focus of this web site is to help decipher the causes of death found on mortality lists, certificates of death, and church death records from the 19th century and earlier. It often can give insights to understanding your ancestor's life style and last days.

The site is more than a simple dictionary. It not only provides modern-day equivalents of old terminology, but also provides supplemental information on many of the terms found, such as when and where such terminology was found. Many terms include descriptions of the causes of the medical condition. Even better, the web site provides lists of archaic medical terms, diseases, and causes of death in English, German, French and a few other languages.

As an example, on this site you learn that "Gall Sickness" is a popular name for the remitting fever occasioned by marsh miasmata in the Netherlands, which proved so fatal to thousands of the English soldiers after the capture of Walcheren in the year 1809.

This and several thousand more archaic medical terms can be found on Rudy's List of Archaic Medical Terms at http://www.antiquusmorbus.com.

Comments

[Happy Dae]

I don't know who Rudy is, but this is SOME list! Over the years, I've compiled a list of nearly 200 causes of death as described in older documents. But this listing is massive! Good job and thanks for sharing.

Happy Dae

[Gloria Ishida]

This is an excellent resource, multiple languages! Thanks for providing the information and the site.

[Sylvia Furshman Nusinov]

Thank you you for giving researchers of their ancestry another link to understanding notations found in archival documentations.

[Carole Riley]

Excellent site. A lot of very impressive research has gone into it. Thanks.

[Julie Pagliarulo]

CENTURY OLD mystery solved....
I really appreciate you for providing this valuable resource for researching those rather confusing medical terms! I feel relieved knowing the truth even if it is not pleasant. Thank you for helping me solve the mystery of what "Marasmus" meant at the time of 1909. The child in question was eight days old and it sounds more likely he died from starvation.

Julie