Etymology

I have a miserable cold this week. I wonder about the etymology of “cold” (as an illness). I always seem to get them in the Spring or Summer, so the cold part doesn’t really make any sense…

Well, I just looked cold up in the etymology dictionary and discovered that the phrase cold (as in, to have a cold, to be sick) originated in 1537 and is based on the idea that the symptoms you have when you’re sick are the same symptoms you get when you go outside in cold weather–i.e., runny nose, hurting ears, dry skin, etc. Very interesting, no?!