From "The Count of Monte Christo":
It was the first time Franz had ever
seen a guillotine, -- we say guillotine, because the Roman
mandaia is formed on almost the same model as the French
instrument.* The knife, which is shaped like a crescent,
that cuts with the convex side, falls from a less height,
and that is all the difference.

A footnote to the text says Dr. Guillotine got his idea from the Roman device.

Interesting, Dr Bill. This bears looking in to. Google gives a few sites, with some in Chinese, one in Russian and at least one in Japanese. There is some contamination from a biological use and, I think, the only ones with the guillotine defintion are from the Count. None of the on-line Latin dictionaries I know of have it in their bowels.

of this I know nothing, but mandaia looks Greek to me...

i know the kitchen tool called a mandoline--
a little bigger than a flat grater (6 inch/16mm) by (12inches/30mm) or so, it has a V shaped opening in the middle.

Various blades can be snapped (or inserted, and secured with s screw and cap nut) The blade depth can be adjusted to cut thin or thick slices, and some blades have additional blades, at right angles to the main one, to cut julliene peices.

Mandonlines (small mandaia's?) have "pusher' to hold the food, which is pushed to top, and the slid down the mandolin, which is held at close to 45º angle.
(i'll go look for a photo link)

http://www.bettycrocker.com/BettyStore/Store/ItemDetail.aspx?IDCode=P&ID=2149

Could you link to a picture, anyone? I'm wondering if mandaia bears any relation to mandala because of its form.