Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SCI-AT'IC, or SCI-AT'IC-A, n. [L. sciatica, from Gr. ισχιαδικος, from ισχιας, a pain in the hips, from ισχιον, hip, from ισχις, the loin.]

A peculiar and specific painful affection, principally seated in the sciatic nerve, which, if protracted, produces emaciation, of the limb affected, with weakness, and a more or less permanent flexion. If it is not a true neuralgia, it is nearly allied to it.