Ole J. Benedictow,History nowadays
he disastrous mortal disease known as the Black Death spread across Europe in the years 1346-53. The frightening name, however, and only came several centuries after its visitation (and was probably a mistranslation of the Latin word atra' meaning both terrible' and black)'. Chronicles and letters from the time describe the terror wrought by the illness. In Florence,the grand Renaissance poet Petrarch was sure that they would not be believed: O elated (full of high-spirited delight) posterity, who will not experience such abysmal woe and will study upon our testimony as a fable.' A Florentine chronicler relates...
Source: realclearhistory.com