Tomorrow morning we’ll publish the answer to the question in the comment section of this post.
April 13, 2009
Meaning of Malaria
© 2025 Compassion International. All rights reserved. COMPASSION®, COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL®, COMPASSION EXPLORER® and the Compassion logo (and elements thereof) are registered trademarks of Compassion International, Inc.
16 Comments |Add a comment
@Jill Foley – Jill…that actually came to my mind too…I had just finished listening to Yanni…lol.
I was really surprised by her death. It was such a shock. I didn’t really think of malaria as being deadly. Never really thought about it before she died of it. I know that where I live, we tend to get a lot of mosquitoes and they can carry a ton of diseases. And every year we hear about people in Houston contracting some of these diseases. Usually they do not die of them, but sometimes they do. Of course, malaria is not here as far as I’ve ever heard, but lots of other diseases are. West Nile virus is one of the worst that we get here. (And of course, our dogs get parasitic heartworms if they are not on year-round prevention.) I’m glad organizations are working to help people who live in areas where malaria is common. Education and medical care are so critical.
Oh Patricia and Geri…my heart goes out to you both. I was heartbroken when my first sponsored child graduated from Compassion’s program and that’s supposed to be a happy thing!
And the answer is …
Bad air.
The word malaria originates from the Italian language and translates literally as “mala aria” or “bad air.” This came from the early belief that the disease was caused by breathing the stale, warm, humid air found around swamps.
(Source: nothingbutnets.net/malaria-kills/, November 2008)
Patricia, I’m very sorry to hear about the loss of your child. It would have been a heartbreaking telephone call/letter to receive.
I too have lost one of my sponsored children but not because of maleria. She had a heart defect that went unnoticed.
Geri
Geri
@Patricia – Patricia, I am so sorry. Losing one of our sponsored children would break the heart of any of us on here, whether by death or the child’s leaving the program. May God bless you with other children who also need your love–and His!
So sorry to hear that, Patricia. I would feel just as heartbroken if that happened to one of my kids–and they aren’t even “mine” physically. But I still think of them as my own children.
Well, this isn’t actually the meaning of the words… but it has a VERY bad meaning for me. One of my sponsored children in Uganda actually died of malaria when I was sponsoring her several years ago. It was very sad and heartbreaking. She was a very exuberant child. Her letters were always fun to read and I loved the drawings she would send. It was a very sad day when malaria took her life.
@Jill Foley – Jill, that’s cute! Thanks for the chuckle; I needed that!
Being a musician, I would guess bad song…but that can’t be right so I’ll agree with everyone else and say bad air.
Yup–bad air.
I agree with Geri…
mal*aria = bad air
I agree–“bad air”.
Makes sense to me, Geri. If Malodorous means bad smell, “mal” definitely means “bad”, and “aria” is probably not talking about the musical piece in an opera. 🙂
I must concur. Malaria comes from the roots that can be translated as “bad air”.
This word means “bad air”. It was once thought that bad air caused this illness.
mala aria = bad air?
Geri