Charles Hunt wrote:That looks like medical shorthand for an uncomfortable procedure.
<classicist nerd
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The oldest use of 'analemma' (ἀνάλημμα analēmma "support") in classical Greek is as a medical term, a sling for an injured limb; ~430 BC. There was also, later, a usage as an architectural term, a buttress for a wall; ~30 BC. At about the same time it was also used (as a Greek word in a fragmentary Latin text) for a sort of sundial, the first astronomical metaphor, if the attribution to Vitruvius Pollio of that era is correct, suggesting earlier usage by Greek astronomers:
"ἀνάλημμα est ratio conquisita solis cursu et umbrae crescentis ad brumam observatione inventa, e qua per rationes architectonicas circinique descriptiones est inventus effectus in mundo. "
(".. the equinox is used in constructing the figure of the analemma, in accordance with which the hours are marked to ... to the situation and the shadow of the gnomon. The analemma is a basis for calculation deduced from the course ..")
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(mere guide at) Jet Age Museum, Gloucestershire Airport
http://www.jetagemuseum.org/TripAdvisor Excellence Award 2015
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction ... gland.html