Ducentesimum Vicesimum Quartum Latinum Verbum Diei: October 18, 2010

[Christina Wallin]

Theme for this month: Latin hidden in our everyday lives

spatula, spatulae f.

Definition: A flat piece (of wood), batten (in context, used in
reducing dislocations); (later Latin) shoulder blade, shoulder

Sententia: Celsus, De Medicina Ch 8, 15.3

At si vastius corpus nervive robustiores sunt, necessaria est spatula
lignea...

But if the patients are stronger, a vaster body with sinews, a wooden
plank/splint is necessary...

Aulus Cornelius Celsus, born in around 25 BCE, was an encyclopedist.
He is known for his only surviving work, “De Medicina.” This passage
comes from a description of the proper ways of splinting and binding a
broken bone, and goes on to describe how thick said splint needs to
be.

Spatula is a diminutive of “spatha,” meaning “an instrument with a
flattened blade for stirring mixtures; a broad-bladed sword; in
surgery, a form of splint.” The familiar word “spatula,” an implement
for cooking, comes from the Romance languages through a borrowing from
Latin . Perhaps you can be amused by the idea that any time you are
using a spatula, etymologically you could also be wielding a small
sword!

Also, I anticipate having even less time to do the LVD next week than
this week.. Unless someone kindly volunteers to do it, it will be
merely a word with a definition, without a sentence or much other
commentary. I already have a word in mind—what remains is writing it
up. Please let me know if you would be willing to help me out!