Forgotten medical instruments

While browsing old local newspapers, I discovered a reported theft of a urinometer. I wondered whether it did what I thought it did – it didn’t, it actually measures the specific gravity of urine, from which doctors claimed they could assess kidney function.

This did set me wondering whether there were other obsolete medical items and what they did – read on….

Trephines were used for making holes in the skull, the process known as trepanning.

Ecraseurs were used to strangle tumors, particularly in the uterus or ovary. It worked by tightening a wire loop around the base of the tumor.

Surgical guillotine was employed for urgent amputations, where surgeons decreed creating a flap of skin to fold over the wound would delay the procedure to an unacceptable degree.

Brass scarificators were considered a big step forward – we might view something which replaced leeches in the practice of blood letting rather differently.

Spinal saws were used for removing bone after fractures or deformities were diagnosed.

Surgical hammer – must have been of some use, and afterwards you can call a toffee hammer.

Skin hooks were obviously used to hold back the skin while playing around inside – but they do seem quite terrifying.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: N

Many words have two meanings, sometimes more, which are often very different. Such words have identical spelling and pronunciation, they are known as homonyms. Here I continue an A to Z list of such words and look at how that word came to have two different meanings.

N is for nail, the metal fixing used by carpenters and those things you file, clip, paint, or nibble on the ends of one's digits. Undoubtedly the earliest nails used in carpentry were not simply tapered but deliberately curved. There is a school of thought that these were designed on the nails of birds of prey (we would refer to them as talons). In which case these have identical origins in Proto-Indo-European nogh 'nail of the finger or toe'. This is given some weight by the Greek onyx meaning both 'claw' and 'fingernail' (similarly seen in Latin, Old Irish, Lithuanian, Old Welsh, and Old Church Slavonic).

Terms derived from 'nail' included 'hard as nails', first recorded in 1828; hit the nail on the head, first seen in 1520; on the nail, from 1590; and also the measurement 'a nail' which was on the end of a yardstick used by dealers in cloth and measured approximately 2.1/4 inches.

Kyrgystan Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest of Kyrgystan cities.

Bishkek has only been known as such since 1991, prior to that it had been known as Frunze by the Soviet Union from 1925, and as Pishpek when established as a fortress in 1825. Frunze was after the Bolshevik leader Mikhail Frunze who was born here and who died in 1925. The name of Pishkek is thought to be from a Kyrgyz word for a 'churn', one used specifically to make fermented mare's milk, the national drink.

Jalal-Abad is known for its mineral springs, the water from the spa long believed to cure leprosy. Its name comes from Jalal ad Din, who set up caravanserais (early service station)serving travellers and pilgrims to the holy mountain. The suffix of '-abad' or '-abat' comes from the Persian and denotes a place associated with the named person.

Tokmok simply means 'hammer', a reference to it being established as a military outpost.

Kara-Balta translates as 'black axe'.

Kant is the Kyrgyz word for 'sugar', for a sugar plant constructed here in 1930.

Kara-Suu is the Kyrgyz for 'black water'.

Isfana is thought to come from the Sogdian word asbanikat meaning 'the land of horses'.

Toktogul is named after its most famous inhabitant, Toktogul Satilganov a poet and composer (1864-1933).

Batken comes from the Sogdian, an Iranian language, and means 'the city of wind'.

Sulukta comes from the Turkic word zuluk and, with the suffix, refers to a place 'containing leeches'.

Cholpon-Ata is literally 'Venus father' and refers to the mythological protector of the area.

Kok-Janggak is from the Kyrgyz for 'green walnut'.

Pristan'-Przheval'sk is named after the Russian geographer Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky (1839-1888) whose grave is found here.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.