LATH (0. Eng. laett,

See also:

• MID

Mid. Eng. lappe, a

See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form possibly due to the Welsh llath; the word appears in many

See also:

• TEUTONIC
• TEUTONIC (GERMANIC) LANGUAGES

Teutonic

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• LANGUAGES

languages, cf. Dutch

See also:

• LAT

lat, Ger. Latte, and has passed into Romanic, cf. Ital. latta, Fr. latte)  , a thin flat strip of wood or other material used in building to form a base or groundwork for plaster, or for tiles, slates or other covering for roofs . Such strips of wood are employed to form lattice-work, or for the bars of venetian blinds or shutters . A " lattice" (O . Fr. laths) is an interlaced structure of laths fastened together so as to form a screen with diamond-shaped or square interstices . Such a screen was used, as it still is in the East, as a shutter for a window admitting air rather than light; it was hence used of the window closed by such a screen . In modern usage the term is applied to a window with diamond-shaped panes set in lead-work . A window with a lattice painted red was formerly a common inn-sign (cf . Shakespeare, 2 Hen . IV. ii . 2 . 86); frequently the window was dispensed with, and the sign remained painted on a board .