How did the word 'vaccine' originate?

Meaning "matter used in vaccination", the English Wordvaccine derived in 1846 from the Latin Wordvaccina, the feminine form of vaccinus, meaning "pertaining to a cow".

The use of the term vaccination, predated by 43 years, was specifically coined to describe the British Doctor Edward Jenner's technique of preventing smallpox by injecting people with the cowpox virus. It was not until (1881) Pasteur that the Word came to be associated with other diseases.