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Francis Schiller, MD
Department of History of Health Sciences University of California at San Francisco Box 0726 San Francisco, CA 94143

Arch Neurol. 1989;46(11):1168.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—The controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" section in the ARCHIVES in which Dr Leviton defends his use of migraineur for a female patient against Dr Jonas' suggestion of the correct use migraineuse concerns the problems I have also had with that phony pseudo-French term: it also goes against my grain. The truth is that you will find migraineur in no French dictionary: it is an English invention. The Oxford English Dictionary Supplement, on the other hand, traces the word to the London Times of January 25, 1971. The French ending -eur refers to a doer, not to a sufferer, eg, as in voleur—the female is indeed une voleuse. But the French may use their adjective migraineux, migraineuse as substantives. While I sympathize with Dr Jonas' offended ear, I would find it a little hard to support a solution suggesting the honest but demeaning English . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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