falx

Etymology

From Latin falx (“sickle”). Doublet of dalk.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /fælks/, /fɔlks/

Noun

falx (plural falxes or falces)

1. (historical) A short Dacian sword resembling a sickle.
2. (anatomy) A curved fold or process of the dura mater or the peritoneum, especially one of the partition-like folds of the dura mater which extend into the great fissures of the brain.

Anagrams

• Flax, flax

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *dʰelk-, *dʰelg- (“a cutting tool”). Cognate with Old Irish delg (“thorn, needle”), Old English dalc (“a pin, brooch, bracelet”). More at dalk.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /falks/, [faɫks]

Noun

falx f (genitive falcis); third declension

1. sickle, scythe
2. (military) a hook used to pull down walls

References

• falx in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• falx in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• falx in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• falx in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• falx in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• falx in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• Lewis & Short, A Latin Dictionary