#178: Translation/use of "pallete"

Decide what word to use in English:

pallete is a painter’s palette, but also a palette knife.
In French, it is a “small shovel”, so spatula or pallet knife is reasonable, although it can be of wood, which would not come to mind if we translated it as palette knife.
“Pallet” is used in English in the 16th c to mean a palette knife, so we could use that, but it calls to mind a straw bed (doesn’t it?).
Whatever we decide, it should be made consistent throughout. Just have to make a translation decision

THU searched for “palet” (3), “palle” (11), “palat” (0), “pallat” (0)

THU RECOMMENDATIONS:

Would we prefer to use “palette knife” instead of “spatula”?
Clearer connection of "palette knife" to French palette but OED doesn’t attest before 1760
Cotgrave gives: “Lingell [=flat blade or spoon], tenon, slice, or flat toole wherewith Chirurgians lay salve on plaisters”
TT: do you know what the English equivalent of this tool might be?
OED “palette knife” does not include this medical sense explicitly

opened by njr2128