# swine flu



## natkretep

There's been a discussion in the English Only forum on why the English term has been 'swine flu' (or 'swine influenza') rather than 'pig flu' or 'porcine flu'. I'm just interested to know how other languages translate the term. Has it stabilised?

Nat


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## jazyk

In Portuguese:

gripe suína


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## Flaminius

Japanese:

豚インフルエンザ
buta infuruenza (where _buta_ is pig/swine)

Abbreviation 豚インフル (_buta infuru_) is seen when space is limited (such as in headlines).


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## natkretep

jazyk said:


> In Portuguese:
> 
> gripe suína



That's a surprise. *Suína* looks like English _swine _ which the OED labels as 'Common Teutonic'.



> Common Teutonic: OE. swín str. n. = OFris., OS., MLG. swîn, MDu. swijn, (NFris. swinn, EFris. swin, WFris. swyn, LG. swien, Du. zwijn), OHG., MHG. swîn, (G. schwein), ON. svín, (Sw. Da. svin), Goth. swein:OTeut. *swinom, neut. of adj. formation with suffix -ino- (cf. L. sunus, OSl. svin swinish, and see -INE suffix1


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## OldAvatar

Romanian: gripă porcină


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## Frank78

In German:

"Schweinegrippe"

"Schwein" -pig,pork,swine

I thought "swine" is also the zoological/technical term for "pig".


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## ajo fresco

This question also came up recently in the Spanish/English forum.  

According to that thread, the two most common terms in Spanish are "gripe porcina" and "influenza porcina."


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## anikka

in Latvian: cūku gripa
where "cūka" stands for pig, swine


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## Joannes

In Belgium we switched. Initially, *varkensgriep* 'swine flu' was used, but since medically speaking that's not entirely accurate (because the disease is transmittable between humans, contrary to avian influenza where people only got infected through direct contact with contaminated birds), the media now use *Mexicaanse griep* 'Mexican flu'. In the francophone media both are being used for the moment: the RTBf uses *grippe mexicaine*, but some newspapers stick to *grippe porcine*.


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## Nanon

natkretep said:


> That's a surprise. *Suína* looks like English _swine _which the OED labels as 'Common Teutonic'.


That is a question for Etymology & History, but the Latin name of the genus is _sus_ and the family is _Suidae_, so speakers of Romance languages are not surprised 

However French has "grippe porcine" as mentioned above. "Grippe mexicaine" is under discussion, although the question is diplomatic rather than linguistic... Times have changed and the reference to "Spanish flu" (1918-1919) does not seem quite acceptable nowadays.


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## bellota_2601

Español: gripe porcina


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## .Jordi.

Catalan: _grip porcina_.
Polish: _świńska grypa_.
Russian: _Свиной грипп._


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## RaLo18

Hebrew: שפעת חזירים (pigs flu)
שפעת מקסיקנית (Mexican flu) was also suggested as a name, because pigs are taboo food in Judaism and Islam, but due to Mexican ambassador's complaint, the original name remained.


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## MaxJ

In the Netherlands(Dutch) it's called: *Varkensgriep* (pig flu), and I heard *Mexicaanse griep* (Mexican flu) only once.

In Afrikaans it's called *Varkgriep*.


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## robbie_SWE

In Swedish we say *svininfluensa*. 

 robbie


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## jazyk

I've just found _gripe porcina_ in Portuguese on the Internet, but I've never heard anybody around me or on TV (not that I watch much TV) say that. I personally like _suína _better.


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## Outsider

I agree. However, I've heard a few people in the Portuguese media call it _gripe mexicana_, which I thought was inconsiderate towards the poor Mexicans.


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## Orreaga

In the Catalan media I noticed they are just calling it _*grip nova*_, not _*grip porcina*_.

In Basque media: _*txerri gripea*_, where txerri = pig.


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## Volcano

*In Turkish

Domuz gribi*


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## 2PieRad

Joannes said:


> In Belgium we switched. Initially, *varkensgriep* 'swine flu' was used, but since medically speaking that's not entirely accurate (because the disease is transmittable between humans, contrary to avian influenza where people only got infected through direct contact with contaminated birds), the media now use *Mexicaanse griep* 'Mexican flu'. In the francophone media both are being used for the moment: the RTBf uses *grippe mexicaine*, but some newspapers stick to *grippe porcine*.


"La grippe porcine" is the only term I've seen thus far in the french newspapers here.


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## sokol

In Austria there has been recently a discussion in mass media that "Schweinegrippe = swine flu" actually is incorrect as the virus is no longer transmitted from pigs to humans but is exchanged between humans.

Thus, bacteriologists (or whatever those guys should be called) suggested "Neue Grippe" (= new flu) or "Nordamerikanische Grippe" (= North American flu).
However, what seems to catch on more and more is "Mexikanische Grippe" (= Mexican flu); "Schweinegrippe" still is used though.


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## Spiritoso78

In Italy we call it " *Influenza suina*"; to be clearer in such geographical context, you might say " L'influenza suina proveniente dal Messico" by pointing out it comes from said Country..then spread to Usa too.


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## ajo fresco

The World Health Organization, along with President Obama and U.S. officials, are now calling it the H1N1 virus.  

Many news media outlets are reporting this was done in an effort to protect the pork industry.


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## Nanon

No swine flu to protect the pork industry, no Mexican flu because we don't want a conflict with Mexico... Luckily (?) the influenza virus has nothing to say...
A few hours ago I heard another variant on the French radio: "grippe A". So it seems that the media are switching to that name, which is as scientific and "politically correct" as H1N1, but shorter.


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## Wilma_Sweden

ajo fresco said:


> The World Health Organization, along with President Obama and U.S. officials, are now calling it the H1N1 virus.
> 
> Many news media outlets are reporting this was done in an effort to protect the pork industry.


Swedish official authorities are now calling it Influensa A(H1N1) (den nya influensan) (=the new influenza), and their explanation for the change is twofold: 1) they are following WHO's recommendation and 2) that there are other existing virus strains with the same code, which is why it's labelled 'new'. The new term is trickling into news media, too.

/Wilma


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## sokol

Nanon said:


> A few hours ago I heard another variant on the French radio: "grippe A". So it seems that the media are switching to that name, which is as scientific and "politically correct" as H1N1, but shorter.





Wilma_Sweden said:


> Swedish official authorities are now calling it Influensa A(H1N1) (den nya influensan) (=the new influenza), and their explanation for the change is twofold: 1) they are following WHO's recommendation and 2) that there are other existing virus strains with the same code, which is why it's labelled 'new'. The new term is trickling into news media, too.


After listening to the news more closely (triggered by this thread ) it seems that while tabloids still stick to "swine flu" (Schweinegrippe) state-owned radio and TV stations try to introduce the terms "new flu" (Neue Grippe) while they also still use "Schweinegrippe".
So this switch to political correct(er) terms also is present in Austria, but it is also a switch to "scientifical correctness". 

The correct scientific name is in German ">Neue Grippe<-Virus (Influenza A/H1N1)" = ">new flu< virus (influenza A/H1N1)" where "A" stands for "genus A" and "new" is just used to indicate that it is a new strain. Here is the explanation in German by a specialist: the virus is no longer a "swine virus" but a "human virus" as I explained already above.
("Genus A" was of course known long before the appearence of this new "swine" flu virus mutation, this virus is a new mutation of genus A - thus French "grippe A" seems not to be entirely correct, scientifically speaking.)


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## Outsider

The Portuguese media seems to be switching to _gripe de tipo A_, "type A flu".

I don't think "swine flu" was an indefensible term. Years ago we had the "avian flu" scare and nobody complained about the name, even though it was infecting humans. I think the problem this time is the negative connotation of "swine/pig" in many cultures. This is unfair, because pigs are really decent creatures.


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## Grisham

In Italian it is "Influenza suina".


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## sokol

Outsider said:


> I don't think "swine flu" was an indefensible term. Years ago we had the "avian flu" scare and nobody complained about the name, even though it was infecting humans. I think the problem this time is the negative connotation of "swine/pig" in many cultures. This is unfair, because pigs are really decent creatures.


You're right of course. 
But there's also an economical facette: at least here in Austria people were worried about eating pork - which is of course nonsense, you couldn't catch swine flu from eating pork (or more precisely, only from raw pork, and even then it would be illegal here to butcher pigs which have the flu, and those that don't do not carry the virus).

"Avian flu" however is different as it is transmitted only from birds to humans, it is not a human virus - thus no infection between humans is possible, you have to be in contact with birds (or at least it has been claimed that yet there has been no infection of a human through an infected human). Still "avian flu" or "bird flu" also is not quite correct scientifically it seems.


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## Chaska Ñawi

I strongly suspect that most Canadians didn't have a clue what "swine" meant until this outbreak.  Many still don't.  This may be why it hasn't had a huge impact so far on the pork industry.  In any case, nobody can remember the official name, so people still talk about the swine flu here.  

What may have a larger impact is the possiblity that the epicentre of the flu is a community of factory farms with poor waste containment.  All of our most serious agricultural epidemics have arisen directly as a result of factory-type farming and slaughter techniques. It makes me wonder when we'll get to calling some flu strain the "feedlot flu".

The South American newspapers still seem to be vacillating between influenza porcina and gripe porcina.


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## ajo fresco

It looks like the name of this flu is mutating faster than the virus that causes it!


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## Hakro

Finnish:

_sikainfluenssa_ (sika = pig, swine)


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
Η Γρίπη (feminine) των χοίρων (genitive plural of the masculine noun 'ο χοίρος'=the swine).
I ɣr*i*pi ton kh*i*ron (the Flu of the swines, the swines' flu)


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## Arrius

Obama started off at the outbreak of the pandemic  by referring to the disease as *swine 'flu,* but now avoids the name after the, as I believe, justified complaints of the American pig breeders who already had the economic crisis to contend with.  I believe he was asked to use the term  *A/H1N1* instead, but I haven't caught any of his recent speeches.  The BBC merrily continues to use *swine 'flu.*  The earlier erroneous alternative of *swine fever* has now been abandoned.


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## brian

Today I received an email from my university that went like this:

_The worldwide outbreak of A/H1N1 Flu (formerly called swine flu), which..._

and the French version was:

_L’épidémie mondiale de grippe porcine, qui porte désormais le nom de virus H1N1 et qui..._

This comes from Canada. So they recognize the name change but continue to mention both, probably for the sake of ensuring comprehension by all readers.


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## 2PieRad

Just an update. _Radio-Canada _seems to have switched over entirely to _la grippe A (H1N1) _and stopped the use of _porcine_. However, I still see "swine flu" in English newspapers.


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## apmoy70

Same thing here (Greece). Greek media have switched over to "η νέα γρίπη" (i n*e*a ɣr*i*pi, the new influenza) and stopped using "I ɣr*i*pi ton kh*i*ron" (the Flu of the swines)


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