Editing Spa, Belgium (section)

==Toponymy==
Among the various hypotheses put forward as to the [[Etymology|etymological]] origin of the name ''Spa'' is that of "gushing spring", from the [[Latin]] ''sparsa'' meaning "scattered" and "gushing", past participle of ''spargere'' ("scatter", "sprinkle" or "moisten").<ref name="Racine">Jean-Jacques Jespers, ''Dictionnaire des noms de lieux en Wallonie et à Bruxelles'' (in French), Racine, 2005</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Van Tubergen |first1=A. |last2=Van Der Linden |first2=S. |year=2002 |title=A brief history of spa therapy |url=http://ard.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/61/3/273#R2 |url-status=live |journal=Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases |volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=273–275 |doi=10.1136/ard.61.3.273 |pmc=1754027 |pmid=11830439 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060208052840/http://ard.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/61/3/273#R2 |archive-date=8 February 2006 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> Another connects the word to the meaning of "free space", from the [[Walloon language|Walloon]] ''spâ'' and from the Latin ''spatia'', plural of ''spatium''.<ref name="Racine" />

The place has been known since [[Roman times]], when the location was called ''Aquae Spadanae''.<ref>Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, George Rosen, Yale University Dept. of the History of Science and Medicine, Project Muse, H. Schuman, 1954</ref> For this reason, the city's name is sometimes presented as the acronym of various Latin phrases, such as ''salus per aquam'' or ''sanitas per aquam'', meaning "health through water";<ref name="leisurerec">For instance, 'Leisure and Recreation Management', George Torkildsen, Routledge, 2005, {{ISBN|0-415-30995-6}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=UZxwctypZ0sC&dq= "Sanitas+Per+Aqua"&pg=PA37 Google Books]</ref> it is in reality a [[:wikt:backronym|backronym]], an a posteriori fabrication of a fictitious acronym.

The term ''Spa'' has since become [[:wikt:eponym|eponym]]ous with any place having a natural water source that is believed to possess special health-giving properties, known as a ''[[spa]]''.