falx

English

Etymology

From Latin falx (sickle). Doublet of dalk.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fælks/, /fɔlks/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ælks, -ɔlks

Noun

falx (plural falxes or falces)

  1. (historical) A short Dacian sword resembling a sickle.
  2. Any sickle-shaped part or process.
    1. (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.
    2. (anatomy, dated) A chelicera.
    3. (anatomy) A snake's poison fang.
    4. (anatomy) A rotula of a sea urchin.

Derived terms

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology

Usually derived from Proto-Indo-European *dʰelg- (to sting; needle),[1][2] whence also Proto-Celtic *delgos (needle; pin), Proto-Germanic *dalkaz (pin, brooch; dagger), Lithuanian dilgùs (stinging, burning), dilgėlė̃, di̇̀lgė f (nettle), di̇̀lgti, di̇̀lgstu (to be stung by nettles), dal̃gis (scythe). Both the -a- and the -c- are unexpected, however, which might suggest a borrowing from a neighbouring Indo-European language of Italy.[2]

Pronunciation

Noun

falx f (genitive falcis); third declension

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

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

singular plural
nominative falx falcēs
genitive falcis falcium
dative falcī falcibus
accusative falcem falcēs
falcīs
ablative falce falcibus
vocative falx falcēs

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Aragonese: falz
  • Aromanian: falcã, falche
  • Old Leonese: foce, fouce
  • Catalan: falç
  • Emilian: fèlz
  • English: falx
  • Fala: foici
  • Franco-Provençal: folx
  • Friulian: fals
  • Italian: falce
  • Ladin: fauc
  • Lombard: falc, folcc
  • Neapolitan: falcè
  • Old French: fauz
    • French: faux
      • Karipúna Creole French: fos
    • Picard: feuque
    • Walloon: foque (obsolete)
  • Old Occitan: fals
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: fouce
    • Fala: foici, fueici
    • Galician: fouce
    • Portuguese: foice, fouce (dated or dialectal)
  • Romanian: falcă, falce
  • Romansch: faulsch
  • Sardinian: falche, falle, farche, farci, frache, fraci
  • Sicilian: fauci
  • Spanish: hoz
  • Venetan: falẑ
  • >? Vulgar Latin: falcina
    • Albanian: felqinë

References

  1. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “dhelg-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 1, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 247
  2. 2.0 2.1 De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “falx, -cis”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 200

Further reading

  • 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 with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 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
  • Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “falx”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 3: D–F, page 404
  • Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “falx”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 239

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin falx.

Noun

falx n (plural falxuri)

  1. falx

Declension

Declension of falx
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative falx falxul falxuri falxurile
genitive-dative falx falxului falxuri falxurilor
vocative falxule falxurilor

References

  • falx in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN