The word Influenza comes from the Italian language meaning "influence" and refers to the cause of the disease; initially, this ascribed illness to unfavorable astrological influences. Changes in medical thought led to its modification to influenza del freddo, meaning "influence of the cold". The word influenza was first used in English to refer to the disease we know today in 1703 by J. Hugger of the University of Edinburgh in his thesis De Catarrho epidemio, vel Influenza, prout in India occidentali sese ostendit. Archaic terms for influenza include epidemic catarrh, grippe (from the French, first used by Molyneaux in 1694), sweating sickness, and Spanish fever (particularly for the 1918 flu pandemic strain).