A death record (1798) says an infant died of "Aygre". What is that? Same as Aigre? What does it mean? The only two definitions I've found don't help me much. One is "Flujo impetuoso del mar". Another source suggests it just means "air". If so, what condition does it describe?
Aygre
Aigre is an old way of saying aire, air. "Darle a alguien un aire" (le dio un aire, me dio un aire, etc.) means that someone gets sick for being hit by cold air outside after being warm inside the house (like going out after taking a warm shower). I've heard it in the context of getting part of the face temporarily paralyzed. According to the RAE dictionary, the expression means to get a paralysis attack.
http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=aire
Aire means air or wind.
Victoriano Navarro
Aygre
Interesting input. Thank you. The death happened to an infant of 19 months in April. Someone else I know thought it meant air as in bloating or gas - from severe indigestion. It is hard to imagine what they were thinking in those days, as they described what to them was perfectly understood. Any other ideas?
Stuart Armstrong