Word of the day: bursitis

The word of the day is bursitis:

Pathol.

Inflammation of a bursa.  (OED)

which brings us to bursa:

medieval Latin bursa bag, purse, < Greek βύρσα hide, wine-skin.

  1. Physiol. (more fully bursa mucosa): ‘A synovial sac of discoidal form interposed between muscles, tendons, or skin, and bony prominences, for the purpose of lessening friction’. (OED)

"Death, at first, seems no match for her formidable will and aggression.  Flora barks at her broker over the telephone; she hassles Blackie; and she downs cognac and pills to combat her 'bursitis'."

 - Hilton Als, "Ladies of the Night: Tennessee Williams and Anton Chekhov on troubled women", February 14 & 21, 2011, The New Yorker