Where did the term 'period' come from? When did it shift from menstruation to periods?
'Period' comes from the Greek words 'peri' and 'hodos' (periodos) meaning 'around' and 'way/path'. This eventually turned into the Latin 'periodus' meaning 'recurring cycle'. The English term 'period' to describe menstruation began in the early 1800s.
Other symbols and terms to describe menstruation are seen in texts from thousands of years ago. Even then they were considered 'profane' (i.e. taboo/inappropriate).
'Period' comes from the Greek words peri' and 'hodos' (periodos) meaning 'around' and 'way/path'. This eventually turned into the Latin 'periodus' meaning 'recurring cycle'. The English term 'period' to describe menstruation began in the early 1800s.
These euphemisms are found in texts spanning millennia. In seventeenth century, private journals of both men and women, menstruation is described as 'them' and 'those'. The symbol of the menstruating woman ('Eve’s curse') was widely used to define profanity. With the decline of what anthropologist’s call 'magical thinking', medical writers used clinical terms (menses, catamenia) in parallel with terms like “monthly excavation” and 'natural purgations'. Lay people used euphemisms almost exclusively.
