Unlike so many other expressions, this one is well documented. It's a direct translation of the Spanish sangre azul. Many of the oldest and proudest families of Castile used to boast that they were pure bred, having no link with the Moors who had for so long controlled the country, or indeed any other group. As a mark of this, they pointed to their veins, which seemed bluer in colour than those of such foreigners. This was simply because the blue-tinted venous blood showed up more prominently in their lighter skin, but they took it to be a mark of their pure breeding. So the phrase blue blood came to refer to the blood which flowed in the veins of the oldest and most aristocratic families. The phrase was taken over into English in the 1830s.
Best Regards, Arnold Beland Sitting here looking at veins through my practically transparent skin. www.abeland1.com ----- Original Message ----- From: Matthew McCann To: silver-list@eskimo.com Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2004 4:18 PM Subject: CS>Antiquarian Epidemiology Hello, Members of the List, I work with people who serve periodically as missionaries in the Amazon basin where leprosy still occurs. They are not medical missionaries and have little or no contact with victims of Hansen's disease. Some have put a question to me about EIS, though. The term 'bluebloods' comes from the european nobles who escaped plagues such as the Black Death by using silver tableware. Did the bluebloods also escape leprosy? Some medieval people were keen enough observers to notice some relation between bubonic plague, rodents and a dearth of cats. Does anyone know if they noticed if silver drove away leprosy? Thanks in advance for your input. Matthew --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.776 / Virus Database: 523 - Release Date: 10/14/2004
