History: Ill

As I have stated before in my reflection, the usage of the word 'ill' is quite minimal today (at least compared to the past).  The Google Ngram Viewer shows that the largest usage of the word was actually around the year 1700.  The fluctuation is quite evident from the year 1560 to the 1700s, but it is also as clear that since the year 1700, the usage of the word has significantly decreased.  I believe that there are now plenty of different vocabularies in the book that can be used in replacement of ill, such as sick, diseased, evil, and et cetera.  In fact, the history and origin of this word is quite different than what is commonly known.  Ill was originally a word created to describe “morally ill” or “evil”.  Although many believe that ill was originally a medical term for one that is unhealthy, the history shows otherwise.  

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ill
http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=ill&year_&year_end=2010&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=