sal volatile
- noun
- Archaic
:
espíritus de amoníaco
- Physicians in the 19th century often administered sal volatile to patients feeling faint.
Examples
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When someone fainted, the nurse quickly reached for the sal volatile to revive her.
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He carried a small vial of sal volatile in his pocket for emergencies.
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She took a whiff of sal volatile to feel better.
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The doctor recommended sal volatile for her dizziness.
-
Physicians in the 19th century often administered sal volatile to patients feeling faint.
-
When someone fainted, the nurse quickly reached for the sal volatile to revive her.
-
He carried a small vial of sal volatile in his pocket for emergencies.
Synonyms
6
4.1
A strong, sharp liquid people breathe in to wake someone who fainted
1
9.9
A strong smelling liquid that revives people who faint
Surface Forms
Morphology
sal + volatile
The components literally suggest a 'volatile salt' (volatile + sal/salt), which reasonably points to smelling salts or a vaporizing salt solution; a learner who knew both constituents could infer a related stimulant. However, 'sal' is an archaic/Latin form not familiar to most B1 learners and the specific historical/formulaic sense (ammonium carbonate in ammonia water and alcohol) is specialized, so the meaning is only partially predictable.
Etymology
Sal volatile comes from old medicine. The words sal meaning 'salt' and volatile meaning 'easily giving off a smell' describe a small bottle of very strong-smelling salts that doctors used to hold near a fainting person's nose to wake them, so the term means a smelling-salts stimulant.