falx

falx , falcis, f.: a sickle, 4.513; a pruning hook or knife; scythe, 7.635.

falx, falcis, f. [perh. akin to flecto], a sickle, reaping-hook, a pruning-hook, scythe.

• I Prop., Cato R. R. 10, 3; 11, 4; Varr. R. R. 1, 22, 5; Cic. Tusc. 5, 23, 65; id. Mil. 33, 91; Verg. G. 1, 348: Ov. F. 4, 914; Hor. C. 1, 31, 9 et saep.—
• II Transf., a military implement shaped like a sickle, used in sieges to pull down walls or the enemies stationed on the walls; a hook: falces praeacutae insertae affixaeque longuriis: non absimili formā muralium falcium, Caes. B. G. 3, 14, 5; 5, 42 fin.; 7, 22; Sisenn. ap. Non. 556, 22; Curt. 4, 3, 8; Tac. H. 3, 27; Stat. Ach. 2, 419.—Of the scythes with which chariots were armed, Curt. 4, 15, 2.

falx, falcis, Genet. Plur. falcium, f., jedes sichelförmige Werkzeug, I) im Landbau: a) die Sichel, Sense, fenaria, Cato u.a.: messoria, Pallad. u. ICt.: immissi cum falcibus multi purgarunt et aperuerunt locum, Cic. – b) die Hippe, das Winzermesser, Gartenmesser, arborea, Varro: vineatica, Cato: vinitoria, Col.: putatoria, Pallad. u. ICt.: dentata, Col.: lunata, Pallad.: absol., premere vitem falce, Hor. – II) im Kriegswesen, a) die Sichel am Streitwagen, currus cum falcibus, Sichelwagen, Gell. 5, 3, 3: rotae falcesque rapaces, Lucr. 3, 648. – b) ein unserm Feuerhaken ähnlicher Brechhaken, Reißhaken, als Mauerbrecher, Cic. u.a.: falces murales, Caes. Vgl. Garatoni Cic. Mil. 33, 91. p. 307 ed. Orell. Schneider Caes. b. G. 3, 14, 5. p. 256 sq.

falx [CL], falca, ~us 1 agricultural tool with curved blade, scythe, sickle, billhook, or sim.; b (fig.). c (transf.) man who mows, mower. d mowing service. pampinus immensos dum gignit palmite botros / vinitor et spoliat frondentes falcibus antes Aldh. VirgV 179; ~cis, wudubil, siðe, riftras GlC F 32; ~x, ~cis, wingeard seax, rifter vel sicul GlH F 62–3; ~cibus minus utuntur ad metendum Gir. DK I 17; 1199 invenire j falcam et j hominem ad falcandum prata CurR RC II 150; quum eum usum vinearum et ~cis docuisset Alb. Lond. DG 1. 2; 1248 in quadam ~ce ad spinas falcandas, iiij d. Rec. Crondal 54; 1279 habebit j fessulam herbe cum poterit levare [? l. levari] cum †falyse [MS: falxse] Hund. II 743b; 1281 Henricus de B., molendo quamdam falsam super quamdam petram currentem per aquam, dictam petram fregit per medium, per quod predictus H. cecidit super predictam falsam unde secunda die postea obiit JustIt 1001 m. 16d.; 1282 de concelamento unius falci furati Hund. Highworth 214; 1283 de cultellis, de faucibus, ‥ dabit venditor extraneus ‥ ij d. RGasc II 211 (= Foed. II 262); 1289 de ‥ cultellis, falxibus, sarpis [etc.] RGasc II 354; c1300 vj falcos ad falcandum, v ad metendum FormMan 22; hec ~x, a sykyl, or a seth WW; hec fals, A. a sekylle; ‥ hec fals, A. a sythe: false puto vineta, meto sata, tondeo prata (Vers.) WW; 1564 unum fassem vocatum a sythe CourtR 209/66.  b bis quingentenos sanctae messis manipulos evangelicae praedicationis ~ce metens Aldh. VirgP 36; Bonif. Ep. 75 (v. colonus a); cito crescat, cito mortalis evi torrentem ‥ transeat, jam mittet in eum Dominus ~cem, jam metet, jam vindemiabit eum sibi V. Kenelmi A 4; mors que falx est senectutis Walt. Wimb. Van. 149.  c 1244 quilibet eorum qui tenet j virgatam terre reddit ij s. per annum ‥ et falcabit uno die et quelibet falz [v. l. (CurR 134A): falx] habebit tres obolos ‥ et ‥ cariabit tantum fenum quantum ipse falcaverit ‥ CurR XVIII 1547.  d 1185 Willelmus ‥ debet quartam partem carrette et quartam ~cis Rec. Templars 18 (cf. ib. 16: he sunt consuetudines hominum fratrum: Almarus B. ‥ ad pratum falcandum, j ~cem). 2 (used as weapon). b halberd or sim.. 1242 (v. gisarma).  b 1553 de ‥ una false preliari, A. one halberde Pat 852 m. 29.

falx, (10) falcis, f. , faux, faucille, serpe : Cato Agr. 10, 3 ; 11, 4 ; 135, 1 ; Cic. Tusc. 5, 65 ; vineatica Varro R. 1, 22, 5, serpette à tailler la vigne || faux murale : Cæs. G. 7, 22, 2 || faux [arme de guerre, analogue à la faux murale] : Cæs. G. 3, 14, 5 || faux armant les chars : Lucr. 3, 648 ; Curt. 4, 15, 2 ; Gell. 5, 3, 3.

falx , falcis. f.
彎刀。鐮刀。兵器類。— vineatica vel vinitoria 修樹彎刀。— foenaria 草鐮刀。— sylvatica 長鐮刀。

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falx falcis, f

• FALC-, a curved blade, pruningknife, pruning-hook: vitīs incidere falce, V., H., O.—A sickle, reaping hook, scythe, C., V., O.—In war, a hook, wall-hook: falces parare, Cs.: murales, Cs.—A scythe, war-sickle(on the axle of a chariot), Cu.

FALX

FALXdim. FA´LCULA (ἅρπη, κοπίς, δρέπανον, poet. δρεπάνη, dim. δρεπάνιον), a sickle; a scythe; a pruning-knife, or pruning-hook; a bill; a falchion; a halbert.

As CULTERdenoted a knife with one straight edge, falx signified any similar instrument, the single edge of which was curved. (Δρέπανον εὐκαμπές, Hom. Od. 18.368; curvae falces, Verg. G. 1.508; curvamine falcis aenae, Ovid, Ov. Met. 7.227; adunca falce, 14.628.) By additional epithets the various uses of the falx were indicated, and its corresponding varieties in form and size. Thus the sickle, because it was used by reapers, was called falx messoria; the scythe, which was employed in mowing hay, was called falx fenaria; the pruning-knife and the bill, on account of their use in dressing vines, as well as in hedging and in cutting off the shoots and branches of trees, were distinguished by the appellation of falx putatoria, vinitoria, arboraria, or silvatica (Cato, de Re Rust. 10, 11; Pallad. 1.43; Colum. 4.25), or by the diminutive falcula (Colum. 12.18).

A rare coin published by Pellerin (Méd. de Rois, Par. 1762, p. 208) shows the head of one of the Ptolemies, and on the reverse a man cutting down corn with a sickle. (See woodcut.)

The lower figure in the same woodcut is taken from the MSS. of Columella, and illustrates his description of the various parts of the falx vinitoria (de Re Rust. 4.25). [CULTER] The curvature in the fore part of the blade is expressed by Virgil in the phrase procurva falx (Georg. 2.421). After the removal of a branch by the pruning-hook, it was often smoothed, as in modern gardening, by the chisel. (Colum. de Arbor. 10.) [DOLABRA] The edge of the falx was often toothed or serrated (ἅρπην καρχαρόδοντα, Hesiod, Hes. Th. 175, 179; denticulata, Colum. de Re Rust. 2.21). The indispensable process of sharpening these instruments (ἅρπην χαρασσεμέναι, Hesiod, Op. 573; ἅρπην εὐκαμπῆ νεοθηγέα, Apollon. 3.1387) was effected by whetstones which the Romans obtained from Crete and other distant places, with the addition of oil or water which the mower (fenisex) carried in a horn upon his thigh (Plin. Nat.18.261).

Numerous as were the uses to which the falx was applied in agriculture and horticulture, its employment in battle was almost equally varied, though not so frequent. The Geloni were noted for its use (Claudian, de Laud. Stil. 1.110). It was the weapon with which Jupiter wounded Typhon (Apollod. 1.6); with which Hercules slew the Lernaean Hydra (Eurip. Ion, 192); and with which Mercury cut off the head of Argus (falcato ense, Ovid, Ov. Met. 1.717; harpen Cyllenida, Lucan (Luc. 9.661-667). Perseus, having received the same weapon from Mercury, or, according to other authorities, from Vulcan, used it to decapitate Medusa and to slay the sea-monster (Apollod. 2.4; Eratosth. Cataster. 22; Ovid, Ov. Met. 4.666, 720, 727, 5.69-Z2; Brunck, Anal. 3.157 = Anth. Pal. 11.52). From the passages now referred to, we may conclude that the falchion was a weapon of the most remote antiquity; that it was girt like a dagger upon the waist; that it was held in the hand by a short hilt; and that, as it was in fact a dagger or sharp-pointed blade, with a proper falx projecting from one side, it was thrust into the flesh up to this lateral curvature (curvo tenus abdidit hamo). In the following woodcut, four examples are selected from works of ancient art to illustrate its form. One of the four cameos here copied represents Perseus with the falchion in his right hand, and the head of Medusa in his left. The two smaller figures are heads of Saturn with the falx in its original form; and the fourth cameo, representing the same divinity at full length, was probably engraved in Italy at a later period than the others, but early enough to prove that the scythe was in use among the Romans, while it illustrates the adaptation of the symbols of Saturn (Κρόνος: senex falcifer, Ovid, Ov. Fast. 5.627; Ibis, 216) for the purpose of personifying Time (Χρόνος).

If we imagine the weapon which has now been described to be attached to the end of a pole, it would assume the form and be applicable to all the purposes of the modern halbert. Such must have been the asseres falcati used by the Romans at the siege of Ambracia (Liv. 38.5; cf. Caes. B. G. 7.22, 86; Q. Curt. 4.19). Sometimes the iron head was so large as to be fastened, instead of the ram's head, to a wooden beam, and worked by men under a testudo (Veget. 4.14).

Lastly, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Medes, and the Syrians in Asia (Xen. Cyrop. 6.1, § 30, 2.7; Anab. 1.8.10;--Diod. 2.5, 17.53-Z2; Plb. 5.53; Q. Curt. 4.9, 12, 13; Gell. 5.5; 2Mace. 13.2; Veget. 3.24; Liv. 37.41), and the Gauls and Britons in Europe [COVINUS], made themselves formidable on the field of battle by the use of chariots with scythes, fixed at right angles (εἰς πλάγιον) to the axle and turned downwards; or inserted parallel to the axle into the felly of the wheel, so as to revolve, when the chariot was put in motion, with more than thrice the velocity of the chariot itself; and sometimes also projecting from the extremities of the axle.

[J.Y]

Falx

dim. falcŭla (ἅρπη, δρέπανον, dim. δρεπάνιον). A sickle; a scythe; a pruning-knife or pruning-hook; a bill; a falchion; a halbert.

As culter denoted a knife with one straight edge, “falx” signified any similar instrument, the single edge of which was curved (δρέπανον εὐκαμπές; γαμψὰς δρεπάνας; curvae falces; curvamine falcis ahenae; adunca falce). By additional epithets the various uses of the falx were indicated, and its corresponding varieties in form and size. Thus the sickle, because it was used by reapers, was called falx messoria; the scythe, which was employed in mowing hay, was called falx foenaria; the pruning-knife and the bill, on account of their use in dressing vines, as well as in hedging and in cutting off the shoots and branches of trees, were distinguished by the appellation of falx putatoria, vinitoria, arboraria, or silvatica, or by the diminutive falcula.

The illustration is taken from a MS. of Columella, and explains his description of the various parts of the falx vinitoria. (See Culter.) After the removal of a branch by the pruning-hook, it was often smoothed, as in modern gardening, by the chisel. (See Dolabra.) The edge of the falx was often toothed or serrated (ἅρπην καρχαρόδοντα; denticulata). The indispensable process of sharpening these instruments (ἅρπην χαρασσέμεναι, ἅρπην εὐκαμπῆ νεοθηγέα) was effected by whetstones, which the Romans obtained from Crete and other distant places, with the addition of oil or water, which the mower (foenisex) carried in a horn upon his thigh.

Numerous as were the uses to which the falx was applied in agriculture and horticulture, its employment in battle was almost equally varied, though not so frequent. The Geloni were noted for its use. It was the weapon with which Zeus wounded Typhon; with which Heracles slew the Lernaean Hydra; and with which Hermes cut off the head of Argus (falcato ense; harpen Cyllenida). Perseus, having received the same weapon from Hermes, or, according to other authorities, from Hephaestus, used it to decapitate Medusa and to slay the sea-monster. Hence, it may be concluded that the falchion was a weapon of the most remote antiquity; that it was girt like a dagger upon the waist; that it was held in the hand by a short hilt; and that, as it was, in fact, a dagger or sharp-pointed blade, with a proper falx projecting from one side, it was thrust into the flesh up to this lateral curvature.

The weapon which has just been described, when attached to the end of a pole, would assume the form and be applicable to all the purposes of the mediaeval halberd. Such must have been the asseres falcati used by the Romans at the siege of Ambracia. Sometimes the iron head was so large as to be fastened, instead of the ram's head, to a wooden beam, and worked by men under a testudo (q. v.).

Lastly, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Medes, and the Syrians in Asia, and the Gauls and Britons in Europe (see Covinus), made themselves formidable on the field of battle by the use of chariots with scythes fixed at right angles (εἰς πλάγιον) to the axle and turned downward, or inserted parallel to the axle into the felly of the wheel, so as to revolve, when the chariot was put in motion, with more than thrice the velocity of the chariot itself; and sometimes also projecting from the extremities of the axle. See Currus.