Fallsucht

From fallen (“to fall”) +‎ Sucht (here in the old sense “illness, disease”), thus the same as English falling sickness, Dutch vallende ziekte or Swedish fallandesot. Compare also Arabic صَرْع (ṣarʕ), Estonian langetõbi, Polish padaczka, Czech padoucnice, Russian паду́чая (padúčaja) Serbo-Croatian pȁdavica, all equally derived from a word for “to fall”. From the fits which cast the patients to the ground.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfalˌzʊχt/
• Hyphenation: Fall‧sucht

• Audio:

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Fallsucht f (genitive Fallsucht, no plural)

1. (archaic) epilepsy

   Synonyms: Epilepsie, (obsolete) Schwerenot

• fallsüchtig

• “Fallsucht” in Duden online
• “Fallsucht” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache