1570s (intransitive), "to ooze from a body by a natural or abnormal discharge, be secreted," as juice or gum from a tree, pus from a wound, or serous fluid from a blister, from Latin exudare/exsudare "ooze out like sweat," from ex "out, out of" (see ex-) + sudare "to sweat," from sudor "sweat" (see sweat (v.)). Transitive sense "to discharge slowly through the pores, give out gradually as moisture" is by 1755. Related: Exuded; exudes; exuding.
"pustule raised on the surface of the body in an eruptive disease," Middle English pok, from Old English pocc "pustule, blister, ulcer," from Proto-Germanic *puh(h)- "to swell up, blow up" (source also of Middle Dutch pocke, Dutch pok, East Frisian pok, Low German poche, dialectal German Pfoche), from PIE root *beu- "to swell, to blow" (see bull (n.2)).
French pocque is from Germanic. The plural form, Middle English pokkes "disease characterized by pustules" (late 14c.) is the source of pox.
c. 1200, Spainisc, from Spaine "Spain," from Old French Espaigne (see Spaniard) + -ish. Replaced Old English Speonisc. Altered 16c. by influence of Latin. As a noun, "the Spanish language," from late 15c.
For Spanish Main see main. Spanish moss is attested from 1823. Spanish fly, the fabled aphrodisiac (ground-up cantharis blister-beetles), is attested from c. 1600. Spanish-American War was so called in British press speculations early 1898, even before it began in April. For Spanish Inquisition (by c. 1600), see inquisition.
infectious disease causing eruptions of rose-colored papulae, early 14c., plural of Middle English masel "little spot,"which isperhaps from Middle Dutch masel "blemish" (in plural "measles") or Middle Low German masele, both from Proto-Germanic *mas- "spot, blemish" (source also of Old High German masla "blood-blister," German Masern "measles").
There might have been an Old English cognate, but if so it has not been recorded. "The phonetic development is irregular" [OED] and the form might have been influenced by Middle English mēsel "leprous; a leper; leprosy" (late 13c., obsolete from mid-16c.), which is from Old French mesel and directly from Medieval Latin misellus "a wretch," noun use of an adjective meaning "wretched," a diminutive of Latin miser "unhappy, wretched, pitiable, in distress."
