A bit tired of O.Henry, I started Aldous Huxley's "Crome Yellow". On the first page, there is a list of local train stations. One of which is "Spavin". I wonder how that name was given to a town. I used to know a man named Spavin, and wondered if he had been teased about it. Because it refers to a type of arthritis in horses' feet that greatly diminishes their usefulness.


Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Spavin \Spav"in\, n. [OE. spaveyne, OF. esparvain, F.
['e]parvin; akin to OF. espervier a sparrow hawk, F.
['e]pervier, fr. OHG. sparw[=a]ri (G. sperber), fr. OHG.
sparo sparrow, because this disease makes the horse raise the
infirm leg in the manner of a sparrow hawk or sparrow. See
Sparrow.] (Far.)
A disease of horses characterized by a bony swelling
developed on the hock as the result of inflammation of the
bones; also, the swelling itself. The resulting lameness is
due to the inflammation, and not the bony tumor as popularly
supposed. --Harbaugh.

Bog spavin, a soft swelling produced by distention of the
capsular ligament of the hock; -- called also blood
spavin.

Bone spavin, spavin attended with exostosis; ordinary
spavin.