Category: categorisation

Our new life. Probably many people’s life changed. What are the consequences? Uncountable.

Astonishingly, all of this is triggered by a cluster of cooperating molecules that are invisible. You can’t even tell if they should be classified as living beings.

virus (n.)

late 14c., “poisonous substance,” from Latin virus “poison, sap of plants, slimy liquid, a potent juice,” from Proto-Italic *weis-o-(s-) “poison,” which is probably from a PIE root *ueis-, perhaps originally meaning “to melt away, to flow,” used of foul or malodorous fluids, but with specialization in some languages to “poisonous fluid” (source also of Sanskrit visam “venom, poison,” visah “poisonous;” Avestan vish- “poison;” Latin viscum “sticky substance, birdlime;” Greek ios “poison,” ixos “mistletoe, birdlime;” Old Church Slavonic višnja “cherry;” Old Irish fi “poison;” Welsh gwy “poison”). The meaning “agent that causes infectious disease” is recorded by 1728 (in reference to venereal disease); the modern scientific use dates to the 1880s. The computer sense is from 1972.

Online Etymology Dictionary [https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=virus]

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Translation

Unser neues Leben. Wahrscheinlich hat sich das Leben vieler Menschen verändert. Was sind die Konsequenzen? Unzählbar.

Erstaunlicherweise wird all dies durch eine Ansammlung kooperierender Moleküle ausgelöst, die unsichtbar sind und von denen man nicht einmal sagen kann, ob sie in die Kategorie der Lebewesen eingestuft werden sollen.