the.com/scourge
A whip with a promotion to metaphor, now lashing entire populations.
means A cause of widespread suffering or affliction, or literally a whip used for punishment.
from From Latin excoriare, to flay or strip off skin, via Old French escorge — the word still remembers the leather.
Literal firstOriginally a real flogging whip, not a figure of speech.
Biblical fameScourging precedes the crucifixion in Gospel accounts.
Verb tooTo scourge means to whip or devastate utterly.