I’m listening to a recent This American Life episode (#736: The Herd), and early on, one of the interviewees mentions that the usage of the word “communicable” in relation to disease originated with the fact that the only way to know how a disease was spreading in the days before viruses and other infectious agents were able to be isolated (i.e., the 1918 flu pandemic) was for members of the public to “communicate” reports of their symptoms to the health authorities.
From the transcript:
Ira Glass
Howard says Dr. Starkloff had all kinds of messages, telling people to wash their hands, don’t cough on others. And because medicine was so primitive back then, they hadn’t actually isolated the flu virus. So they had no way to confirm if you had it. They couldn’t test you. So the only way they could keep track of the disease was that people who were sneezing and sick told authorities. So Starkloff would tell the public–
Howard Markel
These are the symptoms that you need to call us about. You need to communicate this to us. That’s where the word “communicable disease” comes from, by the way. Not so much that it’s infectious, even though it is, but that one source is communicating it to a higher source and to a public health department.
Ira Glass
Oh, wow.
Now, that sounds dubious to me. It seems like a neat folk etymology, but it’s probably the case that the more straightforward communicable → able to be transmitted → disease that is able to be transmitted from one patient to another is more likely.
I’ve been unable to locate online a first usage of “communicable” in the context of disease. Anyone have better ability to check, or an OED handy?