sequela
February 11th, 2008 by 
bkmarcus
From the word-a-day that I do subscribe to:
I think it's funny that a disease can have a sequel, but that you call it a sequela.
But according to the 1913 edition of Webster's dictionary, the medical definition is not the primary one:
Sequela \Se*que"la\, n.; pl. {Sequelae}. [L., a follower, a result, from sequit to follow.]
One who, or that which, follows. Specifically:
- An adherent, or a band or sect of adherents. "Coleridge and his sequela." – G.P. Marsh.
- That which follows as the logical result of reasoning; inference; conclusion; suggestion. Sequelae, or thoughts suggested by the preceding aphorisms. – Coleridge.
- (Med.) A morbid phenomenon left as the result of a disease; a disease resulting from another.
I think it's interesting that, according to definition #2, sequela is the opposite of non sequitur; I would have expected sequitur to be the opposite of non sequitur.
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