PALe or in Latin PALlidus implies "not bright", thus ANEmic like. The opposite is ANEMONE, a blood like bright red wild flower growing in WINDy areas. These are the "think words" rooted in Latin and Greek that gave rise to ANEMIA and related ideas in PALLOR, SHORTNESS OF WIND or BREATH, LIVID and MALARIA or PALUDISM. Anemone also reminds us of VENUS and her profound love for Adonis to whom this flower is dedicated.

Pale Cupid

It is provocative that ANEM stands for wind or spirit and points to ANIMUS or ANIMAL. Only later ANEM gave rise to the ideas in ANEMIA to describe PALE persons who lacked blood or rather red blood cells and who often became SHORT OF WIND. When, scientists developed a device to measure the speed of winds the contraption was called ANEMometer.

Anemia is a sign of malady.

The link of PALe with ANEMIC is not only evident in Greek and Latin but in Ukrainian and German as well - note BLID, BLUT and BLUMEN for pallor, blood and bloom.

Epileptic Palidity

LIVID describes skin PALLOR akin to the bluish purple violet color of SLIVOVITZ or SLYVA, Ukrainian for PLUM. These Slavic terms point out that a livid countenance can be a sign of poor health as per ZLE for poor or bad or SCHLECHT in German.

LIVID also denotes ideas of "lead like". In fact, lead or Pb for PLUMbum is a poison that can cause livid pallor and fatal anemia. "LIVOR mortis", in classic medical parlance, describes the violet skin discoloration notable in corpses. The name of the cloth covering over a coffin is called PALLIUM.

PALo in Spanish is stick or rod and PALiza means "to beat". Victims battered by battles or those who got a "PALiza" become LIVID and apPALled by memories of such events. Note that ancient poets made PALLOR the son of terror and the attendant of Mars, the God of War.

Pallor and Lividity		Livido Mortis

To close on a nicer note, perhaps the story about ANEMONE may inspire visits to the Mohave desert. This windy desert is like a shrine harboring the beauty of the "wind flower" ANEMONE. Poets remind us that wind and flowers are emblems of the transitory. This vista underscores themes by classic Greek poets who left us lasting interpretations of the eternal love of Venus for ADONis, to whom the flower anemone  or ADONidia is dedicated. Later, Christianized traditions shifted anemone to become a symbol to honor the blood shed by Christian saints.