Sick or ill from eating too much barley, or affected by a condition related to barley consumption.
Compound of 'barley' and 'sick,' from Old English 'seoc.' This term emerged in medieval medical writing when physicians blamed various ailments on grain consumption.
Medieval doctors actually believed barley could cause specific illnesses—they categorized food-related sicknesses by what grain caused them, thinking barley had particular heating or cooling properties in the body.
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