Talk:Spa

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Contents 1 Origin of term 2 Disambiguation? 3 Dutch Loanwords? 4 Disambiguation 5 A term in itself

[edit] Origin of term

Is it from the Latin "Sanus per aquam", or from the name of Spa, Belgium? This page leaves it ambiguous. The Spa, Belgium article says it is the source, as do books on the topic I have read in Belgium. Should the ambiguous sanus per aquam reference be deleted? --kjd 11:47, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)

It has since been removed. The "sanus per aquam" derivation is a myth. -- Picapica 16:28, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

It came back. Removed it again! -- Ian Dalziel 20:32, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

And again! - Ian Dalziel 17:43, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

In an attempt to clear this up, I added a section that states it is not the source. Maybe this will help in the future. Don't know if this can be moved to another section or expanded on. Vegaswikian 18:55, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

• No luck. It keeps being added back in. Perhaps we should add a note in the main text of the article to tell people that it's not an acronym and never was? AlexTiefling 14:11, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Disambiguation?

This isn't really a disambiguation page - it's the only entry for the general term "spa". -- Ian Dalziel 21:20, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Removed the disambiguation template -- Ian Dalziel 21:14, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dutch Loanwords?

I really don't know, but I'm sceptical about "Spa" being Dutch, since it's a Francophone Wallon town in Liège! --Ian Dalziel 21:19, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

The town has been around since long before the region became Francophone --Mzzl 08:27, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Are you suggesting it ever used modern Dutch? -- Ian Dalziel 09:05, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Removed the category link in the absence of any supporting argument -- Ian Dalziel 17:43, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Disambiguation

I've turned this into a proper disambiguation page, as per the Manual of Style. Other stuff that was on it needs to be merged with the appropriate articles. Soo 16:23, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A term in itself

While there are various derivative terms, the common meaning and origin of the terms means this page should give properly sourced information which does not need to be repeated on every page about a derived term. This information has now been added, and the disambiguation template removed. ..dave souza, talk 15:57, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

I am not happy about re-introduction of the "acronym" origin. Your sources, I think are all printed, so I can't check how credible they are straight away. I offer this from Michael Quinion, though : "Claims that word origins are acronyms are almost always spurious ... In fact, there’s no known example of a word being generated as an acronym before the beginning of the twentieth century (and they were rare until the inter-war years)." [[1]] -- Ian Dalziel 17:16, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

Fair enough. The sources are at the links given, in two cases both as html generated for a google scholar search and as a download link for the pdf. The link regarding acronyms puts a case against, but doesn't address the particular word: it could be added to put the argument against, and it would be good to get something definitive debunking the acronym. However it's a widespread myth, put about by many sites offering spa services (though none in Belgium I've found!), and in my opinion should be mentioned, preferably with the point that it's dubious. If Quinion's a reputable source the point could be added right now. ...dave souza, talk 17:27, 17 September 2006 (UTC)