Etymology Dictionary

JAUNDICE,  a disease caused by bile.  (F.,—L.)   In Shak. Merch. Ven. i. I. 85.   The d is purely excrescent, as commonly in E. words after n; cf. sound from F. son.   M.E. Iaunys, Pricke of Conscience, l. 700; spelt iaundys, Trevisa, ii. 113; further corrupted to iawndres, in a 15th-cent. tr. of Higden, on the same page as the last reference.—O.F. (and F.) jaunisse, so spelt in the 13th cent. (Littré); but Cot. gives it as jaulnisse, 'the jaundies.'   Formed with suffix -isse (= Lat. -itia) from F. jaune, yellow; because the disease is characterised by yellowness of the skin and eyes.   The oldest spelling of jaune is jalne (Littré).—Lat. galbĭnus, also galbanus, greenish yellow.—Lat. galbus, yellow.   β. The origin of Lat. galbus is obscure; it is a rare word, and allied to Lat. giluus, yellow, used by Virgil, Georg. iii. 83.   The likeness of Lat. galbus, giluus, to G. gelb and E. yellow is so close as to suggest that they are Latinised forms of Teutonic words; the true Lat. form being heluus, answering to Gk. χλῶρς.   See Chlorine, Green, and Yellow.   Der. jaundic-ed.