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Why do we say "pandemia DA coronavirus" and not "pandemia DI coronavirus"?

PS: I have read extensively about the two prepositions and no case of what I have come across explains the usage of DA in this sentence.

user11731289
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    @Charo, I mean that I could say "il mal di mare" but "pandemia da coronavirus"! Why? Why can't I say "pandemia di coronavirus"? – user11731289 Apr 22 '20 at 15:03
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    This also seems surprising to me because you can find, for instance, here, the expression "epidemia di COVID-19", but, for example, here or here, "pandemia da COVID-19". So, it's a very interesting question. – Charo Apr 22 '20 at 15:30
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    It could be a tacit "causata": pandemia [causata] da coronavirus. – linuxfan says Reinstate Monica Apr 22 '20 at 15:42
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    Maybe it can be said both ways? With "pandemia da COVID-19" meaning "pandemia causata dalla COVID-19" and "pandemia di COVID-19" meaning "pandemia della malattia chiamata COVID-19"? – Charo Apr 22 '20 at 15:47
  • @Charo, molto interessante! Grazie per la tua spiegazione! – user11731289 Apr 22 '20 at 15:55
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    @user11731289: Non ne sono completamente sicura: sarebbe utile che un italiano madrelingua confermasse quanto ho detto. – Charo Apr 22 '20 at 16:13
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    And maybe the point is that "coronavirus" is the virus. Well, in fact it's a family of viruses that includes SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease called COVID-19. So you can have a pandemic of a certain disease or caused by a certain disease. But the pandemic is caused by a virus, it's not a "pandemic of a virus". – Charo Apr 22 '20 at 16:28
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    @Charo, yeah indeed possible!! both of your explanations are interesting. Let us hope for some native speaker to shed some more light on the matter. – user11731289 Apr 22 '20 at 16:38
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    Yes, it's epidemia di influenza (because influenza is the disease). Instead, coronavirus is the cause of the pandemic, so pandemia da coronavirus or pandemia di covid-19. – egreg Apr 22 '20 at 21:49

1 Answers1

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We can't say pandemia di coronavirus, because pandemia can have as a specification the name of a disease. The name of the disease is covid-19, so we can say either

pandemia di covid-19

or

pandemia da coronavirus

The virus is the cause of the pandemic, not the effect, hence da. Similarly, it's epidemia di influenza, di vaiolo, di Ebola. We can't say epidemia da influenza. It could be epidemia da Ebola if we think to Ebola as the name of the virus.

egreg
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  • That was very helpful! Thank you! – user11731289 Apr 22 '20 at 21:58
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    However, as I have said in a comment, I have seen both "pandemia" (and "epidemia") "da COVID-19" and "di COVID-19". – Charo Apr 22 '20 at 22:27
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    @Charo People need not know that “covid-19” is the name of the disease. There's great confusion about the topic. Many people don't even know what a virus is, by the way. – egreg Apr 22 '20 at 22:55
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    OK, @egreg, but it seems strange to me that "pandemia da COVID-19" appears in this blog about language, in which, I believe, they are very careful to write well and in which it's explained that COVID-19 is the disease and not the virus. – Charo Apr 23 '20 at 06:53
  • @Charo I see it only in added images, one from the DPCM (decreto del presidente del consiglio dei ministri): I reject considering bureaucrats as a reliable source for language. ;-) There is no occurrence of “pandemia” in the text. – egreg Apr 23 '20 at 14:43
  • @egreg: I was referring to this sentence: "Aggiornamento marzo 2020 – L’elemento – (a)geddon si ritrova anche in coronageddon, neologismo usato su Twitter e altri social per descrivere la pandemia da COVID-19". – Charo Apr 23 '20 at 14:52
  • @Charo Wrong usage. Complain. ;-) – egreg Apr 23 '20 at 14:53
  • @egreg: It appears also here: "Il Portale linguistico del Canada ha pubblicato Glossary on the COVID-19 pandemic, un glossario bilingue in inglese e francese rivolto a comunicatori e traduttori con lo scopo di garantire una comunicazione corretta, efficiente e comprensibile sulla pandemia da COVID-19". Maybe it's really a wrong usage of preposition "da", but I'm not completely sure about that. – Charo Apr 23 '20 at 15:00
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    @Charo Well, If I google for the literal "epidemia da vaiolo", I get eight results. This should clear things up, doesn't it? – egreg Apr 23 '20 at 15:17