Abstract:  Global Semiotics, a conception put forward by Thomas A. Sebeok, is all-encompassing and planetary. Its research objects include all signs of bio-semiosphere. The symptoms, the naming and rhetoric of plagues and writings on them are all important topics in global semiotic studies. Plague is a metaphor of both “pollution” and “crime” in the light of etymology, and designates an isolated, segregated or expelled object in terms of semantics as a result of its metonymic connection with a specified locality or community. Yet, with the development of modern medical science, the naming of and writings on plagues have been reexamined in the all-encompassing and planetary life web which consists of all creatures: human beings, animals, plants, microorganisms, etc.. The meaning generation of plague as a sign is no longer confined to the metaphorical frame in religions, but a topic worthy of further exploration from the perspective of ethic semiotics.

Key words:  , Global Semiotics, plague, Metaphor, Metonymy, Naming