On 3/27/07, Avi avi_wiki@yahoo.com wrote:
We are quoted in this month's issue of Focus, the Mathematical Association of America's newsletter, on page 5, for bringing a source for the term "spline".
PDF link here: http://www.maa.org/pubs/march07web.pdf
I fear we at wikipedia, and consequently that MAA article as well has it wrong. I rather suspect that splines were used already by folks copying illustrated manuscripts way back int the day, well before aeronautics had significantly progressed beyond flapping wing mechanisms.