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The citation of a few examples like blackbird-brig, donkey-
engine, alligator-wrench, caterpillar-traction-engine , grass-
hopper-connecting-rod will show the flexibility of the Eng-
lish language in the transfer of animal names to mechanical
devices and contrivances. Its freedom in other fields is
quite as pronounced.^
It is interesting to try to ascertain the causes for such
freedom and scope in the transferred uses of animal names.
Primitive man must have been curious about all phenomena
of nature. Probably nothing in his usual round of activ-
ities attracted and engrossed his attention so much as the
multitudinous manifestations of animal life thronging the
air, roaming the fields, and swimming the streams. Even
had he not been curious, necessity, stern and inexorable,
would soon have compelled him to form an acquaintance
with them.
For food and sustenance he was dependent in large meas-
ure upon them. To capture them he had to learn their
habits and haunts. The more intimate he became with
their traits, the better could he provide himself with food,
the better could he safeguard his own life. His knowledge
of the animal world he purchased at his own expense. By
bitter experience he learned which was the dangerous end
of a snake or scorpion, which set of extremities of the
panther or wild ass it was advisable to avoid. He found
out which beasts were best for the spit, and which it was
judicious to leave in their own domain.
His clear vision and keen hearing were instinctively exer-
cised in the detection of possible danger, chiefly from the
animal world. His hand and brain were busied in fashion-
ing weapons and devices to capture his prey or defend his
own life. He had a real and living acquaintance with the
manifold animals about him, he recognized their distin-
guishing calls and cries, he knew their characteristic ac-
tions, manners, traits, and dispositions, he located with
ease the favorite retreat of the wild beast.
' See Greenough and Kittredge, Words and their Ways in English Speech,
361 ff., Words from the Names of Animals.
He found it both convenient and necessary to designate
the various creatures he hunted, whose capture was so essen-
tial to him. His interest in the animal world is attested by
the large number of onomatopoetic animal names, and
verbs representing their criesJ
For better protection against man and beast, he allied
himself with other men. The clan or tribe was formed.
He found greater need of a more extensive medium of com-
munication. He groped about for greater freedom and
fulness of expression. He drew upon the resources nearest
at hand, the things with which he was by force of cir-
cumstances most familiar. He called a man a deer because
he was fleet, a sheep because he was timid, a fox because
he was sly. The terms might persist and become personal
names,^ or even designate a nation.^
In his opinion the animals were capable of communicat-
ing and reasoning.^^ He attributed to them various pow-
ers of prognostication.^^ He endowed parts of their bodies
with magical remedial powers.-^ ^ He went so far as to
deify them.^^ The most savage animal might be accepted
by a tribe of men as a totem and thereafter be developed
into a god.^*
Not content with fables and myths about well-known
animals, ^^ he fashioned from his own imagination beasts
of fantastic shape.^®
He forsook his hunting and nomadic life for agricultural
pursuits. His observation of the animal world became
keener, if possible. It took a long search to find beasts
' Mugit bovis, ovis balat, equi hinniunt, gallina pipat. Non. 156, M.
'Latin Asinus, Asella, Aquila, etc.; Greek TaOpos, 'Ittttos, K6/)a|, etc.;
English Crow, Fox, etc. ; Indian Big Bear, Hazvk Eye, etc.
• 'Roifirrla Os,Pind. O. 6, 153.
" Probably the conversation between Achilles and his horse Xanthus (//.
xix, 408 sqq.) is a reminiscence of the naivete of primitive times.
"Plin. Nat. viii, 28, 42 (102-103).
" Plin. Nat. xxx, treats of remedies derived from various animals.
^ lxOi(dv— otis ol Si/pot dcovs ivSfu^ov, Xen. Anab. i, 4, 9. Cf. also Ov.
Fasti, ii, 471 sqq.
" A. Lang, The Secret of the Totem.
" Cf. Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology. Cf. also, Aesop, Phaedrus,.
Hyginus, Babrius, etc.
^' Centaur, unicorn, etc.
7 61'
.OIL
FIGURATIVE USES OF ANIMAL NAMES
IN LATIN AND THEIR APPLICATION
TO MILITARY DEVICES
A STUDY IN SEMANTICS
BY
EUGENE STOCK MCCARTNEY, A.B.
A THESIS
Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Philosophy of the
University of Pennsylvania, in Partial Fulfilment of
the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Press sr
The hew era Printin"; Cojkpany
-ancaster. pa
1912
FIGURATIVE USES OF ANIMAL NAMES
IN LATIN AND THEIR APPLICATION
TO MILITARY DEVICES
A STUDY IN SEMANTICS
BY
EUGENE STOCK MCCARTNEY, A.B.
A THESIS
Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Philosophy of the
University of Pennsylvania, in Partial Fulfilment of
the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Press or
The new era Prihtims compart
Lancaster. Pa.
1912
In armorum generibus milites sumunt ab animalibus nomina.
(Serv. Aen. ix, 503.)
PREFACE.
The writer first became interested in the subject of this
thesis by trying to parallel for class-room purposes the not
infrequent figurative uses of animal names in Caesar and
Xenophon. The idea of approaching it seriously from the
view-point of semantics was due to the conflicting testi-
monia veterum in regard to the reason for the transfer of
the term testudo to the military device.
The introduction, being very general in character, is
naturally not intended to be exhaustive.
For kindly criticism and suggestions, as well as for as-
sistance in proof-reading, the writer takes pleasure in ex-
pressing his thanks to Professors J. C. Rolfe and W. B. Mc-
Daniel and Assistant Professors R. G. Kent and G. D.
Hadzsits, of the University of Pennsylvania.
E. S. McC
m
254943
BIBLIOGRAPHY.!
M. Breal, Essai de Semantique, Paris, 1897.
R. Dozy, Supplement aux Dictionnaires Arabes, Leyde,
1881.
Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore and the Occult
Sciences, Chicago and Milwaukee, 1903.
Genthe, Epistula de proverbiis Romanorum ad animalium
naturam pertinentibus, Hamburg, 1 88 1.
J. B. Greenough and G. L. Kittredge, Words and their
Ways in English Speech, New York, 1901.
A. Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, London, 1872.
Sylvio Kohler, Das Tierleben im Sprichwort der Griechen
und Romer, Leipzig, 1881.
A. Lang, The Secret of the Totem, London, 1905.
A. H. Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, London, 1849.
Ch. L. Maufras, L'Architecture de Vitruve, Paris, 1847.
G. Murray, The Rise of the Greek Epic, Oxford, 1907.
C. W. C. Oman, A History of the Art of War, London,
1898.
A. Otto, Die Sprichworter und sprichwortlichen Redens-
arten der Romer, Leipzig, 1890.
G. A. E. A. Saalfeld, Tensaurus Italograecus, Wien, 1884.
W. R. Smith, The Religion of the Semites, London, 1894.
A. Walde, Lat. etym. Worterbuch, Heidelburg, 1910.
F. O. Weise, Die grieschischen Worter im Latein, Leipzig,
1882.
J. G. Wilkinson, The Ancient Egyptians, Boston, 1883.
E. F. Wortmann, De comparationibus Plautinis et Teren-
tianis ad animalia spectantibus, Marburg, 1883.
* In addition to the books above listed, the various lexica have been
consulted.
The abbreviations of Latin works and their authors are those of the
Thesaurus L. L., except that Veg. is used to refer to the military writer.
IV
Figurative Uses of Animal Names
IN Latin.
Of some seven hundred names of animals^ found in
Harper's Latin Lexicon, about one-third are used in sig-
nifications more or less figurative. This seems a large
proportion, but the list is far more imposing when we con-
sider that metaphorically the names of animals are capable
of more than one interpretation, attracting to themselves a
train of kindred ideas and suggestions whereby language
is progressively enriched, an enrichment to which there is
hardly a limit. The list becomes even more impressive when
we realize that from these names there are formed adjec-
tives, verbs, and even adverbs. Furthermore, an animal
name may become a prefix, as ^ov- and /tttto- in Greek.^
Not content with representing the vices and virtues of
human beings by animal names, writers of comedy and
satire further ridiculed the acts of men by the use of verbs
which were strictly appropriate to animals alone.* Again,
allusions to an animal may be present in extenso without
any mention of the animal.^
A glance at Murray's New English Dictionary under
the caption dog, cat, horse, etc., will reveal in some meas-
ure the extent of the field of this phenomenon in English.
' The word animal is used in the Latin sense.
' Bulimum Graeci magnam famem dicunt, adsueti magnis et amplis rebus
praeponere /Sow-, a magnitudine scilicet bovis. Hinc est, quod grandes
pueros Po&irai8as appellant, et mariscam ficum ^oiavKov, Paul, Fest. p. 32
Miill. Cf. Varro Rust, ii, S> Al also the English use of horse, bull, elephant,
to denote hugeness, strength, loudness, coarseness, as seen in horse-laugh,
horse-nettle, horse-play, horse-ant, horse-sense, bull-frog, bull-fiddle, ele-
phant-folio.
* Cf. Omnes . . . sibilent. Plant. Merc. 407 ; Omnis plateas perreptavi, Plant.
Atnph. loii; Nostras aedis arietat, Plant. True. 256.
' Cf. Vergil's figure of winds chafing like steeds at the barriers, Aen. i,
52-63.
I
• » • • • r i- -.
The citation of a few examples like blackbird-brig, donkey-
engine, alii gator -wrench, caterpillar-traction-engine , grass-
hopper-connecting-rod will show the flexibility of the Eng-
lish language in the transfer of animal names to mechanical
devices and contrivances. Its freedom in other fields is
quite as pronounced.^
It is interesting to try to ascertain the causes for such
freedom and scope in the transferred uses of animal names.
Primitive man must have been curious about all phenomena
of nature. Probably nothing in his usual round of activ-
ities attracted and engrossed his attention so much as the
multitudinous manifestations of animal life thronging the
air, roaming the fields, and swimming the streams. Even
had he not been curious, necessity, stern and inexorable,
would soon have compelled him to form an acquaintance
with them.
For food and sustenance he was dependent in large meas-
ure upon them. To capture them he had to learn their
habits and haunts. The more intimate he became with
their traits, the better could he provide himself with food,
the better could he safeguard his own life. His knowledge
of the animal world he purchased at his own expense. By
bitter experience he learned which was the dangerous end
of a snake or scorpion, which set of extremities of the
panther or wild ass it was advisable to avoid. He found
out which beasts were best for the spit, and which it was
judicious to leave in their own domain.
His clear vision and keen hearing were instinctively exer-
cised in the detection of possible danger, chiefly from the
animal world. His hand and brain were busied in fashion-
ing weapons and devices to capture his prey or defend his
own life. He had a real and living acquaintance with the
manifold animals about him, he recognized their distin-
guishing calls and cries, he knew their characteristic ac-
tions, manners, traits, and dispositions, he located with
ease the favorite retreat of the wild beast.
' See Greenough and Kittredge, Words and their Ways in English Speech,
361 ff., Words from the Names of Animals.
He found it both convenient and necessary to designate
the various creatures he hunted, whose capture was so essen-
tial to him. His interest in the animal world is attested by
the large number of onomatopoetic animal names, and
verbs representing their criesJ
For better protection against man and beast, he allied
himself with other men. The clan or tribe was formed.
He found greater need of a more extensive medium of com-
munication. He groped about for greater freedom and
fulness of expression. He drew upon the resources nearest
at hand, the things with which he was by force of cir-
cumstances most familiar. He called a man a deer because
he was fleet, a sheep because he was timid, a fox because
he was sly. The terms might persist and become personal
names,^ or even designate a nation.^
In his opinion the animals were capable of communicat-
ing and reasoning.^^ He attributed to them various pow-
ers of prognostication.^^ He endowed parts of their bodies
with magical remedial powers.^ ^ He went so far as to
deify them.^^ The most savage animal might be accepted
by a tribe of men as a totem and thereafter be developed
into a god.^*
Not content with fables and myths about well-known
animals, ^^ he fashioned from his own imagination beasts
of fantastic shape.^^
He forsook his hunting and nomadic life for agricultural
pursuits. His observation of the animal world became
keener, if possible. It took a long search to find beasts
' Mugit bovis, ovis balat, equi hinniunt, gallina pipat. Non. 156, M.
'Latin Asinus, Asella, Aquila, etc.; Greek TaOpos, "Ittttos, K6/)a|, etc.;
English Crow, Fox, etc. ; Indian Big Bear, Hawk Eye, etc.
» BotwT^a 5s, Find. O. 6, 153.
^° Probably the conversation between Achilles and his horse Xanthus {IL
xix, 408 sqq.) is a reminiscence of the naivete of primitive times.
" Plin. Nat. viii, 28, 42 (102-103).
" Plin. Nat. xxx, treats of remedies derived from various animals.
^ Ix&^f^v-- ovs ol Si/poi deoi/s ivdfu^ov, Xen. Anab. i, 4, 9. Cf. also Ov.
Fasti, ii, 471 sqq.
" A. Lang, The Secret of the Totem.
^ Cf. Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology. Cf. also, Aesop, Phaedrus,.
Hyginus, Babrius, etc.
^® Centaur, unicorn, etc.
suitable for domestication; and in making them docile and
tractable, he had bitter trials and discouraging experiences.
The domestic animal was his friend, or even his kin.
The tribal blood flowed in its veins. Even the god him-
self was at times an ox or a sheep. The slaughter of an
ox was huphonia, or ' ox-murder.' The habit of slaughter-
ing animals and eating flesh was considered a departure
from the laws of primitive piety.^^
His dependence upon the animal kingdom was contin-
ually becoming more varied, if not more pronounced, not
merely as one of his sources of food supply and for draught
purposes, but for the necessaries, conveniences, weapons,
and even the meager luxuries that could be produced from
fur, bone, and hide.
Civilization advanced, man's horizon broadened, his mind
unfolded, but still his life was closely connected with the
animal kingdom. Signa ex avihus, signa ex quadrupedi-
bus, and auspicia pullaria played an important part in his
existence. Birds and beasts became, as it were, eponymous
heroes.^ ^ Vultures flying over seven low-lying hills de-
termined the founder of an empire,^ ^ the cackling of geese
saved a city,^^ the tripudiuni of chickens influenced the con-
duct of the general,^^ the quivering of entrails and the
action of bird and beast decided policies of state.^^ Animal
sacrifices appeased the anger of heaven.
In countless ways human existence was linked with that
of the animal kingdom, and thus it is not at all strange that
animal names played so large a role in the development of
man's linguistic resources.
" Lecture viii, in W. Robertson Smith, The Religion of the Semites. Cf.
Murray, The Rise of the Greek Epic, p. 59 sq. Cf. also Varro, Rust, ii,
5, 3 : Hie (taurus) socius hominum in rustico opere et Cereris minister, ab
hoc antiqui manus ita abstineri voluerunt, ut capite sanxerint si quis occi-
disset.
" Hirpini from the guidance of the hirpus ' wolf,' Strabo v, 4, I2 ;
Picenum from that of the picus ' woodpecker,* id. v, 4, 2.
" Liv. i, 7, I.
""Id. V, 47, 4.
»* Id. X, 40, 5-6.
^ Qui (rex Deiotarus) nihil umquam nisi auspicato gerit. Cic. Div. i,
15, 26.
5
Much homely wisdom and many shrewd observations on
life were stored up in animal proverbs.^^ Profert cornua
vultur^"^ 'the vulture grows horns/ represented the impos-
sible; piscari in aere,^^ 'to fish in air,' signified the use-
less; lupo agnum eripere^^ *to rescue the lamb from the
wolf,' typified the difficult.
Denies canini were used in eating; the door of a mistress
was subjected to a vigorous arietatio; senectus cervina de-
noted longevity.
The farmer supported his vines with cervi, the architect
planned a testudo, the surgeon operated with a corvus, the
veterinarian treated a ramda, the soldier shot with a scorpio,
the infantryman rallied round an aquila, an ursa roamed
the heavens, the gambler threw a canis, the lover called
his sweetheart passer, the botanist searched for a dracon-
tium, the jeweler prized a chelidonia gemma. A new spe-
cies of fish was observed, it grunted, it became the porcus
marinus; the unfamiliar elephant was called Luca bovis;^'^
came lo par dalis"^^ visualized prominent phases of two ani-
mals better known.
Christianity made its advent. Agnus signified the Mas-
ter, Draco, the Devil, phoenix, the resurrection, Ix^^j the
new religion.
The absence of the figurative and derived uses of ani-
mal names would seriously impair the resources of a lan-
guage. Each animal has some distinguishing trait, so that
the satirist is provided with a full quiver from which to
shoot the shafts of ridicule, the comic poet with a perennial
fount from which to draw a supply of humor. A slight
index of the loss incident to the exclusion from Latin of
derived uses of animal names may be obtained by trying
" Cf. Genthe, Epistula de proverbiis Romanorum ad animalium naturam
pertinentibus ; Sylvio Kohler, Das Tierleben im Sprichwort der Griechen
und Romer ; A. Otto, Die Sprichworter und sprichwortlichen Redensarten
der Romer, Das Tierreich, p. 384 sqq.
^* Claud, xviii, 352.
*' Plaut. A sin. 99.
^ Plaut. Poen. 776.
" Naevius ap. Varro, Ling, vii, 39.
"... quod erat figura ut camelus, maculis ut panthera; Varro, Ling, v,
100.
to imagine Plautus and Terence,^^ or Horace, without them.
The possibilities of mirth-making from this source were
keenly appreciated by writers of the Old Comedy in Greece,
as the citation of a few titles will show; e. g., the Birds and
Frogs of Magnes, the Beasts of Crates, the Goats of Eu-
polis, the Fishes of Archippus, the Snakes of Menippus,
the Nightingales of Cantharus, the Ants of Plato, the
Wasps of Aristophanes, and the like.
That such transferred uses are popular in origin is ap-
parent without demonstration. Accordingly we are not
surprised to learn from Servius that the soldiers were fond
of animal names and were in the habit of coining them for
military weapons. Commenting on the military testudo, he
says :^^ in armorum generibus milites sumunt ab animalibus
nomina, ut aries. That the names are non-technical is at-
tested by Vegetius :^^ testudines, musculos, arietes, vineas,
ut appellant, ' as the laity say.*
There can be no doubt that the list of such names was
far larger than the number now extant. This can easily
be inferred from the opposition to those that did manage
to force their way into good standing. How many names
of this kind perished under the censorship of the technical
writers and purists who had the summa potestas over them,
can only be conjectured.
Besides this source of loss, some words have disappeared
through the destruction of the works in which they were
embodied. The preservation of our clearest passage on
the ericiuSj^^ cheval-de-frise, is due solely to antiquarian
curiosity.
That Tacitus^^ and Plutarch regarded such names as un-
* Cf. E. F. Wortmann, De comparationibus Plautinis et Terrentianis ad
animalia spectantibus.
*" Serv. Aen. ix, 503. Quoted in Isid. Ortg. xviii, 12, 6.
'''Veg. ii, 25.
^^Sallust ap. Nonius, 555, M.
^ Although Tacitus describes a large number of sieges and military
engagements, testudo is the only animal name that he uses for the various
devices. Though cuneus is frequent, caput porci never appears. Such pas-
sages as tormentis hastas, saxa, et faces ingerere {Ann. ii, 81), must include
the onager and scorpio. Perhaps vague expressions like tormentis ser-
vorum patefacta sunt flagitia {Ann. iii, 23) refer to the eculeus. In Hist.
dignified, may be inferred from their infrequent or guarded
use of them. Signs of the struggle that such words had, to
attain recognition and standing, face us on every hand.
While the citation of a few examples may not be convin-
cing, the multiplication of apologetic expressions by various
authors affords conclusive proof of the opposition to them.
About four centuries after Xenophon used tcpLo^ and
Xekcavrj in the military sense, Diodorus feels it incumbent
upon himself to apologize for their use, tov^ re 6vofj,a^o/i,evois
Kpiovf; Kot x^^^va^,^"^ ' the so-called rams and tortoises/
Even Vegetius, who is fond of accounting for the trans-
fer of some names, is very reluctant to employ others.
Lupus he regards as distinctly vulgar and common ; ferreos
harpagonas, quos lupos vocant;^^ and ferrum quem lupum
vocant.^^ In both instances he disclaims responsibility for
its use. Murex, a term lying ready to hand, he utterly
disdains, crossing the Adriatic for tribulus, Tpifio\o<;.
When murex is used by other authors,^*^ the boldness of
the metaphor is tempered by ferreus. The adjective, how-
ever, may be necessary, in this instance, for clearness.
Grus 'crane' must have been in frequent use (see p. 33),
but owing to the vulgarity of the term, good authors
avoided it. Vitruvius tells us that the corvus demolitor
was sometimes vulgarly dubbed * the crane. '^^
Plutarch, in describing Archimedes's inventions at Syra-
cuse, speaks of machines with mouths like those of cranes,
c-TOfiaa-iv ecKaa- /nevoid yepdvcov ^^^ probably not because the
simile was on the way to a metaphor, but rather from a
desire to be somewhat non-committal. Athenaeus speaks
guardedly of a different crane, v Srj Xeyofievrj yepavo^,*^
iv, 30, the military grus (see grus, p. 34) is evidently meant. Even in the
account of the siege of Jerusa)em aries is not mentioned. By means of
tormentum, machina, machinamenium, and various colorless expressions,
Tacitus avoids the use of the convenient animal names.
•* Diod. xii, 28, 3.
" Veg. ii, 25.
»• Id. iv, 23.
" Val. Max. iii, 7, 2 ; Curt, iv, 13, 36.
"Vitr. X, 13, 4.
"Plut. Marcellus, 15.
"Math. Vett. p. 10.
8
* the so-called crane.' Athenaeus, the Deipnosophist, refers
to the same contrivances of Archimedes as tcopa/ce: aihr)pol^^^
softening the expression by an adjective. Tzetzes, how-
ever, refuses to lower the tone of his poetic description by
either Kopa^ or ^yepavo^}^ Polybius displays similar re-
luctance in describing the same machines.^^
Ammianus and Vegetius show that cuneus is technical
for the wedge-shaped formation of battle, while caput por-
cinum and caput porci are naive military terms: desinente
in angustum fronte, quem habitum caput porci simplicitas
militaris appellat;** and, Quam rem (cuneum) milites
nominant caput porcinum.^^
6vaypo<; , says Ly dus, is banale : /caraTre XT179 Be ecrriv elZof^
c\€7ro\€ft)9, KaXcLTaL Be t© TrXr/dei ovaypo^;.'^^
Philon says that aKopirioi is vulgar for the technical
evBvTOva. d tiv€<; koI (TKopirloiyi Kokovatv .'^'^
The icpioi of Procopius may not be merely explanatory.
He seems to imply that it is colloquial: fir]xava<; at Kpioi
Kokovvrai}^
Ammianus expresses his disapproval of the new-fangled
term for the old scorpio : scorpio . . . cui etiam onagri vo-
cabulum indidit aetas novella."*^ A second time he seems to
lament the usage of his day : Scorpionis . . . quem appellant
nunc onagrum.^^ Vegetius uses the generalizing third per-
son in speaking of the cuniculus : genus oppugnationum . . .
quod cuniculum vocant.^^
Festus says that the astronomical suculae is a transfer of
an age inelegant in speech : Stellas . . . quas appellarunt a
pluvia hyadas Graeci. Nostri forsitan existimantes a subus
dici saeculo parum eloquenti, dixerunt eas suculas.^^
Even post-classic Latin, with all its corruptions and bar-
barisms, did not fail to recognize the humble origin and
vulgarity of some of these terms :
Scropha. Machinas . . . quas vulgo Scrophas appellant.
" Ath. p. 208 d. *' Math. Vett. p. 122.
•"Tzet. Hist, ii, 35. -^Procop. B. G. i, 21.
" Polyb. viii, 8, i sq. *' Amm. xxiii, 4, 7.
** Amm. xvii, 13, 9. ''" Id. xxiii, 4, 4.
* Veg. iii, 19. " Veg. iv, 24.
^•Lydus, De Mag. i, 46. " Fest. p. 301 Mull.
Catus. Machinam quandam parvam, quae lingua vul-
gar! Catus dicitur.^^
The accumulation of these various quasi-apologetic ex-
pressions shows how rigorous was the opposition to trans-
ferred animal names on the part of the purists. While the
prejudice against their use was never entirely eradicated,
the convenience of the terms and their picturesqueness
enabled them to escape total ostracism.
In the following pages an effort will be made to trace
the reasons for the transfer of animal names to military-
machines and devices, both offensive and defensive.*^*
These animal terms appealed so strongly'^ to the Romans,
especially the later technical writers, that they deemed it
worth while to stop to explain the transfer, in some in-
stances even hazarding a guess as to the reason for it.
Such a penchant did the Roman have for etymologizing,
that at times we find three or four reasons adduced, a few
of them not without a grain of humor. Our present task
will be to sift their testimony, in an endeavor to discover
the distinguishing shape, trait, habit, or characteristic that
caused the transfer. The change from the literal to the
figurative is seldom due to a resemblance in more than one
particular.
Apropos of this Breal says : II n'est pas douteux que le
langage designe les choses d'une fagon incomplete et inex-
acte. — Mais si je prends un etre reel, un objet existant dans
la nature, il sera impossible au langage de faire entrer dans
le mot toutes les notions que cet etre ou cet objet eveille
dans I'esprit. Force est au langage de choisir. Entre
toutes les notions, le langage en choisit une seule: il cree
ainsi un nom qui ne tarde pas a devenir un signe.*^^
Consequently, in order to effect a transfer from one
" Quoted by Du Cange, s. vv.
" Cf. in Eng. basilisk, cat, crows^ feet, culverin, dogs of war, ram,
torpedo, etc.
" The appeal of such figures is shown by the grim ' joke of Black Agnes
of Dunbar, when she had smashed the penthouse and saw its occupants
scampering away from beneath : " Behold, the English sow has farrowed." *
Oman, A History of the Art of War, p. 133.
^ Essai de Semantique, pp. 191, 192.
lO
object to another, it is essential for at least one property to
be the common possession of each. For instance, a metal
is unstable, Mercury is ever on the wing. The similarity,
as seen in the continual motion of both, causes an easy
transfer of the god's name to the metal.
The points of contact between the animals and the mili-
tary instruments to which the animal names are applied
will be found for the most part in two things : first, in the
shape, generally of a part of the body, as the horn, mandi-
bles, jaws, shell; secondly, in actions, as kicking, biting,
burrowing.^''^
ARIES, Gk. /cpio^ Ram; transf., A Battering
Instrument.
As military machines, like all mechanisms, must go
through a long process of evolution, it is evident without
demonstration that the principle of the battering instru-
ment was recognized and employed before the term Kpuh
(aries) was applied to it.^^ The question before us, then,
is to decide whether the device lived a rather anonymous
sort of existence under the general term firjxavq until one
end was finally shaped to resemble a ram's head ; or whether
the similarity in the method of attack inspired the use of
the term Kpuk, this in turn, combined perhaps with the use
of K€(f)a\rj for the end of the beam, suggesting the fashion-
ing of the ram's head.
An explanation of the transfer in meaning of aries would
seem like ' carrying coals to Newcastle,' were it not for the
fact that late Roman writers specifically attribute the fig-
urative use to the shape of the end of the beam.
In one passage Ammianus implies this : cum iam . . . aries
" In the following pages some citations descriptive of animal life will
be made, in order to give a Greek or Roman background for the change,
or to show how similar were the words applied to the animals and the
machines. Some such passages will be of a date later than the transfer,
though even these may reflect the views of authors far earlier, especially
in the case of the Natural History of Pliny and the Lexicon of Suidas.
"Thuc. ii, 76, 4, speaks of a battering device under the title fi^oKii^.
Apparently the first use of the term Kpi6i for the instrument is in Xen.
Cyr. vii, 4, i.
II
. . . adventaret, promlnentem eius ferream f rontem, quae re
vera formam effingit arietis.^^
Later on, the same author expresses himself in very pos-
itive terms : abies . . . arietis efficiens prominulam speciem,
quae forma huic machinamento vocabulum indidit.
In Vitruvius is found the statement that the ram was in-
vented by the Carthaginians at the siege of Gades. Vi-
truvius is indebted to Athenaeus,^^ who in turn has fol-
lowed an older military writer. On their authority he
states that the Carthaginians wished to raze a fortress
which they had captured. Having no suitable implements,
they improvised a rain from a piece of timber, and by
means of this makeshift device, they managed to demolish
the walls:
Primum ad oppugnationes aries sic inventus memoratur
esse. Carthaginienses ad Gades oppugnandas castra posu-
erunt; cum autem castellum ante cepissent, id demoliri sunt
conati. Posteaquam non habuerunt ad demolitionem fer-
ramenta, sumpserunt tignum idque manibus sustinentes,
capiteque eius summum murum continenter pulsantes, sum-
mos lapidum ordines deiciebant, et ita gradatim ex ordine
totam communitionem dissipaverunt.^^
As the siege referred to is the one conducted by Hamilcar
immediately after the First Punic War, this cannot be the
first application of the battering-principle, or the first use
of the term aries. Hence it is unwarranted to claim that
this impromptu device, constructed too quickly to permit of
fashioning a head, secured its name from the resemblance
to the butting of the ram.
Plutarch tells^^ of some machines that Pericles intro-
duced at the siege of Samos in 440 B. C. Diodorus, a con-
temporary of Caesar and Augustus, describes them as * so-
called rams and tortoises/ roik re ovofxa^ofievovf; Kpioxs koX
XeXoivaf;.^'^ The phraseology means that Diodorus is re-
casting, somewhat reluctantly, in terms current in his own
^Amm. XX, 11, 15. *" Vitr. x, 13, i.
'"Amm. xxiii, 4, 8. " Plut. Pericles 27.
•' Math. Vett. p. 3. " Diod. xii, 28, 3.
12
day, accounts of machines that received definite names sub-
sequent to the time of their introduction.
No mention is made in Greek literature of the formal
application of the battering principle before Thucydides's
description of the battle of Plataea. Here, however, the
device masqueraded under the title ifi^oXrj. It was entirely
of wood, for it split and was rendered useless on striking the
wall : V Se (mx^^^v) P^/^V e/iTrtTrrovo-a cfTreKavXt^e to irpoexov
T7]^ i/jL^oXrjs. Mera Se tovto ol TiekoirovvrjaLOt, ©9 aX re firj^aval
ovSev co^eXovv. . . /'^
The first use of the term fcpL6<; in a military sense is a
casual reference in Xenophon^^ with regard to Cyrus's con-
struction of rams and other machines. Hesychius in his
Lexicon defines the term as used by Xenophon, explaining
it by poiraXov iroXiopfcrjTLfcov , which is clearly a blunt-shaped
piece of timber, a club of Hercules on a large scale. No
mention is made of any likeness to a ram's head.
Since his readers were familiar with the ram-headed
beam, Hesychius, as an antiquarian, takes occasion to ex-
plain the unusual, namely the meaning of Kpi6<; before its
end had been ornamented with the head. In a brief ex-
planation of this character, Hesychius would not have re-
frained from using the concise Kpioic€to9, assisted by the term
K€(l)aXi] already applied to the end of the beam, evidently
suggested the fashioning of the ram's head.
In his alternative explanation, Suidas, following Jo~
sephus,^^ states that it was the extension that was shaped
to resemble the head of the animal, and that this gave rise
to the name : fcpt6<;. SoKo
ov Kal KokelTaL rervTrayfjuevof;.
This derivation is impossible, since the Kpio^ of Xeno-
phon's times was blunt, not pointed, nor carefully chipped.
In Latin literature, there are found three conflicting
attempts to account for the transfer. Hegesippus (for in
such guise does Josephus masquerade in the Latin trans-
lation) attributes the change, as did Ammianus, to the
shape of the end of the beam, in spite of the fact that in
his description there is but a single horn and that at the end :
Delectus eo Vespasianus rursus ad expugnandam urbem
accenditur, omnem exercitum congregat, machinis murum
quatit, pulsat ariete. Nomen hoc species dedit eo quod
validae ac nodosae arboris caput vestitur eoque ut frons
aries praetexitur, quae obductis laminis turgescit et pro-
minet e medio eius quasi cornus procedit ferri solidioris.^^
Varro too was under the impression that the transfer was
due to similarity in shape, as the context shows (see quo-
tation p. 39) .
Vegetius has given us a choice of alternatives, ascribing
" Joseph. B. J. iii, 7, 19.
""Heges. iii, 11. Cf. Joseph. B. J. iii, 7, 19. Isid. in Orig. xviii, il, I,
is indebted to these passages.
14
the transfer to the resemblance between the hard head of
the animal and the stout end of the beam ; or, to the similar-
ity between the butting and the swing of the machine, the
ram stepping back to butt with increased power, just as the
beam is drawn back to acquire momentum and force; ap-
pellatur aries, vel quod habet durissimam frontem, qua
submit muros, vel quod more arietum retrocedit, ut cum
impetu vehementius feriat.®^
The first derivation can be disregarded, since the end of
the original /c/oto? was comparatively soft, being of wood,
as Hesychius's definition of Xenophon's /cpio^ implies.
Durissimam evidently refers to the iron protection of later
times; cf. ferream frontem p. 1 1.
The second alternative of Vegetius is, of course, the
only tenable reason for the transfer. The late Greek writer
Procopius,''^^ supports this view, speaking with the fullest
assurance: "H 5e (Soko^;) a\7)v Tov ^r]')(avrj^TO^j rjv Srj kuI KaTa7r7)Bria-a<; ix fieaoyv
(uperai rtav TroXefiuoVj koI fiera iroXXip; aSeuif; €7rl to T€t;^o?
av€(l>€p€J^
It is the later life-like heads, with ornamental horns at
the side, as seen in the sculptures on the column of Trajan,
that caused the confusion among the Romans in regard to
the transfer of meaning.
On a priori grounds one would naturally infer that it
was the butting that gave rise to the figurative use of aries.
In the animal there are two aspects, and only two, that
stand out conspicuously, the peculiar spiral horn, and an
innate fondness for removing obstructions, animate or inan-
imate, with his head. The contour of the horn has enriched
us with the /cpto? of architecture and ichthyology."^^ A con-
voluted horn, like that of the ram, is however absolutely
useless for battering. Had the horn been the basis of com-
parison, bos would have been far more appropriate as the
name of the machine.
A store of proverbs and allusions, emphasizing the butting
propensity of the ram, shows how easy must have been the
transition to aries ' the buttress ' and aries, ' the battering
device.'
Plautus makes excellent use of this characteristic of the
ram: Arietes truces nos erimus, iam in vos incursabimus,*^*
' We shall turn into fierce rams and shall soon be rushing
upon you.'
Suidas informs us that /cpto? rpocfyela aTrerto-e, ' the ram
makes requital for his keep,' is a proverb for ingratitude:
TrapOLfiia iirl tcjv axap^Tcov. Kai yap tois Kpiois iKTpaa(Tl KvpiTTecv Tois Opesjra/JLevoif<;, 6 ean TrXtjTreiv.
Kpiois eKyevvdv TCKva, * to beget children that turn on you
like rams,' has the same trait in mind.
KpLov hLaKovla^ * the tender mercies of the ram ' is, as Hesy-
chius shows with clever repartee, a classical analogue to the
serpent's tooth of the Bible, to denote a filial ingrate. For
"Joseph. B. J. iii, 7, 21.
^ Aries is not used for the prow of a ship.
"Plaut. Bacch. 1148.
i6
the astragals/^ or figs, fed by its keeper, the ram returns
astragals far different, i. e., a vigorous impact. The con-
versation between the ram and its master may be repre-
sented as follows : * I will make you a present in pulse if
things turn out well.' And the ram rebutted, ' Fll present
you with my strongest impulse.'
KpLOv hiaKOvia. orav Trpoa-Tdaaco/jLev Traihla BLa/covijaaLf Xeyo/xev,
Bwcrco croL el TV')(pL acTTpaydXov^, rj la^dBa^. Kal 6 Kpio^ ovv elTre,
Tov KpevTTOva Kal tov aarpayaXov aot Baaro),
Arietilli in Petronius''^^ aptly describes the * rambunc-
tious.'
It is a very striking and interesting coincidence that the
Semitic peoples used their words for ram, kar among the
Hebrews, and kabs among the Arabians, to designate the
mechanical principle. The early Semitic rams were not
equipped with ram-like heads. The monuments show ends
like those of spears, or truncated cones made slightly
concave. ''^'^
The parallel does not end here, for the ram followed the
same course of development among the Semitic as among
the Graeco-Italic peoples. " The besieged, if unable to
displace the battering ram sought to destroy it by fire, and
threw lighted torches, or fire-brands, upon it."^^ This
necessitated an iron protection for the end.
In the days of the Christians, we hear of enormous rams'
heads supplied with their full quota of horns. Dans le
recit du siege de Saint- Jean d'Acre par les Chretiens, tel
que nous le donne I'historien Isfahani, on trouve de longs
details sur un belier (kabs), que les assailants avaient con-
struit pour battre les murs de la place, et qui devait son nom
a une enorme tete surmonte de deux cornes.'^^
The independent application among both Semites and
Astragal, one of the vertebrae, especially of the neck ; a leguminous
plant.
'" Petron. 39.
" See plates in Nineveh and its Remains, A. H. Layard, vol. ii, pp. 368,
369. Egyptian monuments also show spear-like ends on their rams. See
plate in vol, i, p. 242, of S. Birch's revision of The Ancient Egyptians, by
J. G. Wilkinson.
7' Layard, id. p. 371.
" R. Dozy, Supplement aux Dictionnaires Arabes, s. v.
17
Greeks of the term ravi to an instrument, no part of which
was originally like the animal, points conclusively to the
butting as the true reason for the transfer.
In English, the term, ram, aside from its military and
naval applications, is used to designate several devices for
battering, crushing, butting, or driving by impact. Among
them may be mentioned the following as found in The
Century Dictionary :
1. The weight or monkey of a pile-driving machine.
2. The piston in the large cylinder of a hydraulic press.
3. A hooped spar used in ship-building for removing
timbers by a jolting blow on the end.
4. In metal working, a steam-hammer used in forming
a bloom.
5. An hydraulic lifting-machine.
In no case is there a use of the term ram that is derived
from the shape of the device.
EQUUS, Horse; transf., A Battering Instrument(?).
The statement of Pliny^^ that the horse as a battering
instrument was invented at Troy, equum (qui nunc aries
appellatur) in muralibus machinis, Epeum ad Troiam (in-
venisse dicunt), is merely tradition, going back ultimately
to the story of the Wooden Horse in the Odyssey :
Xinrov Koafiov aeiaov
Eovpareov, tov *E7r€i09 hroiijaev avv ^AOtJvtj,^^
The idea of the aries is due to a critical spirit such as
Pausanias later manifested in describing the so-called
Wooden Horse at Athens. Any person of common sense,
as he implies, would know that the Trojans were not such
fools as to do what the story ascribes to them, and that in
reality Epeus's invention was a wall-breaking device : tTTTro?
he 6 Ka\ovfi€vo<; Soupeto?, avaKecTai x^Xkois, Kal on fiev to
TTOirjfjLa TO 'ETretoO fir}')(^dvrjiJLa rfv €6poij^^ tortoise-carrying rams, shows that ^eXcoi/?; was
a general term for the military device, and that the use of
X€\Q>vrj, both name and machine, in connection with fcpto^f
was later than both uses of x^^^^V alone. In other words,
the x^^^^ had already been named before the introduction
into it of the /c/?to?, whose appearances and disappearances
recalled to Vegetius the actions of a tortoise in extending
and drawing back its head under its shell.
There remain to be considered as a basis of the transfer
two other causes, which at first glance appear to be indis-
solubly linked. Was it the similarity in shape, or in the
manner of deflecting objects, that led to the adoption of the
name I The Greek and Roman authors are almost unani-
mous in supporting the latter view.
In the first use of x^^^^V in Greek, Xenophon states
that * a wooden tortoise ' was placed upon a trench to keep
it from being filled with brush and stones : «? S' i/c rov
reCxov^ eKdeovre^ 7ro\\dKL<; eve^aXov els to opvyfia Kal ^v\a Kal
\C6ovs 7roL7](Td/ii€PO<; av x^^^^V^ ^vXlvtjv eirearrja-ev eirX ttJ
(fipeaTia,^^
Vitruvius says that the testudo was devised to afford
protection to the men manipulating the ram: uti tutiores
essent qui in ea machinatione ad pulsandum murum essent
collocati.^^
^ Xen. Hell, iii, i, 7.
°*The adjective Kpio(f>6poi (arietariae), serves merely to differentiate this
class of xeXwrni (testudines) from others that appeared as advances were
made in testudo construction: e. g. diopvKTpldes (fossiciae) ; 7e/JpoxeXwvai
(craticiae) ; x^cTpfSes (aggesticiae). Math. Vett. pp. 14, 99.
" Xen. Hell, iii, i, 7.
"Vitr. X, 13, 2.
r
21
In Athenaeus there appears the same idea. He advises
the placing of wooden tortoises in front of the combatants in
order to minimize their danger : Trpo? he TpaL * light tortoises,' which, he says, were con-
structed with the express purpose ( tm ) of having their
shape like that of the tortoise : yiyvovrai Be avia-ovyjr€l<; ol
KdfjLaK€<; Trap* eva Xva to inr avrSyv cr'xrjfxa y ^eXcovrj,^^^
Varro likewise assigns the figurative use to a likeness in
external appearance, as the connection indicates (see quo-
tation p. 39).
We may conclude, then, that originally a device was
needed to ward off weapons. The most effective contriv-
ance happened to be convex, the shape of the tortoise.
From this resemblance came the transferred use of the
term testudo}^^
According to Isidore, the term testudo is likewise applied
to an individual shield: Dicitur autem et testudo scutum.
Nam in modum testudinis fit clypeus.^^''^
The name testudo is itself due to the resemblance be-
tween the testae of the vaulted roof to the segments of the
curving shell: Testudo dictus, eo quod tegmine testae sit
adopertus in camerae modum.^^^
Fancy is given free rein in Martial's testudo^^^ for the
hedgehog's ball of spines and in Ovid's use of the term^-^^
for an ornamental head-dress.
In post-classical Latin, cancer, 'crab,' and cattus, 'cat/
partly displaced the term testudo:
Expugnavit Rex hanc civitatem per duo vasa (instru-
menta) concava, quae faciebant artifices sapientes. Unum
vas Cattus vocabatur, aliud Cancer. Erant haec vasa longa,
quadrata, ex omni parte laterum clausa : versus terram nul-
lum munimen habebant, sed versus caelum de tabulis forti-
bus ac spissis tectum, machinarum lapides minime metuebat,
etc.
'"' Math. Vett. p. 15.
'^^ In vol. I, p. 244, of his revision of J. G. Wilkinson's The Ancient
Egyptians, S. Birch has expressed the opinion that the tryfanon or pike of
the testudo arietaria of the Greeks and Romans, and the covering or vinea
which protected the men while they worked the battering-ram, were most
probably borrowed originally by the Greeks from Egypt.
^^ Isid. Orig. xviii, 12, 6.
'•"Isid. Orig. xii, 6, 56.
^"'Mart. xiii, 86, i.
""Ov. Ars iii, 147.
24
Infra :
Fuit Cancer instrumentum magnum forte, pariter et pon-
derosum. In eo erat trabs magna, pariter longa, in una
parte grossa, in altera parva. In grossiori parte, sive in
capite, fuit ferro forti circumdata, et in fronte ipsius Can-
cri fortissime colligata. Trabs haec super quaedam instru-
menta jacuit, quod faciliter moveretur. Hie Cancer cum
ad murum pervenisset, et octo in circulos, qui in trabe erant,
funes immisissent, ex paucis ictibus pro magna parte cadere
coegerunt.
Mox:
Ex parte terrae fuerunt obsessi per Cattum atque Can-
crum; quia solus Cancer, quingentos homines occupabat.-^-^-^
Another instance of the testudo type of machine is found
in sus, ' the sow ' : Unum fuit machinamentum, quod nostri
Suem, veteres Vineam vocant, quod . . . protegit in se sub-
sidentes, qui quasi more suis, ad murorum suffodienda pene-
trant fundamenta.
The locusta was a somewhat similar device : Locusta am-
bulatoria : intus homines ducentes eam, possunt se haerere
muro aut prope murum castelli et defendere se a saxis
hostium ac missilibus.^^^
The English has a rather striking figure prompted by
the shape of the tortoise. To turn turtle, is common in nau-
tical slang and its application has been extended to other
fields. The figure is due, of course, to the shape of the
hull of the capsized vessel.
Turtle is also used of the detachable segment of a rotary
printing-machine.
TESTUDO ARIETARIA.
Vitruvius, after describing the invention of the simple
aries whose weight was supported by men, tells in detail
how it was made more efficient. It was supported on a
cross-beam; then it was rendered movable by a platform
"* Quoted by Du Cange, s. v. Cancer.
*" Quoted by Du Cange, s. v. Sus.
"* Quoted by Du Cange, s. v. Locusta.
25
equipped with wheels; finally protection was afforded the
soldiers working it by the addition of a covering of hides.
With such a preface, he states that the complex machine,
testudo arietaria, was so named by its inventor because of
its sluggish movements : quod tardos conatus habuerat, tes-
tudinem arietariam appellare coepit.^^*
The grammatical relation shows that the combination of
the words, testudo arietaria, is due to the development of
the simple testudo, not the simple aries. When the func-
tions of an instrument are enhanced, logic demands that the
change be shown by an adjective, A lifting machine, when
it has a fixed base, is called a crane. When the whole ma-
chine moves it is called a traveling-crane. When the
corvus, primarily for piercing or holding, has its scope of
operations increased so that it is adapted to tearing down
walls, the new function is shown by an epithet, demolitor.
Vitruvius clearly thought that the testudo arietaria was
developed from the simple aries. If this were so, and if
the slow movements figured in the transfer, then we should
expect an adjective testudineus, 'of tortoise-like sluggish-
ness,' to show the new function of the aries, i. e. the machine
would be aries testudineus, * the ram of tortoise-like slug-
gishness.' If the instrument aries is the basis of the com-
plex machine, then the term aries is logically the basis of
the expression denoting the contrivance.
As it is, the grammatical order of the two words, testudo
arietaria, x^'^^ KpL06po^^ proves that the function of the
testudo is increased. The Greek adjective /cpio(f)6po^ ^ where
fcpLO- is the equivalent of an objective genitive, is sufficient
evidence that testudo arietaria means, not ' the ram's tor-
toise,' but ' the ram-carrying tortoise,' i. e. the tortoise
modified to carry a ram.
Vitruvius is apparently indebted to Athenaeus,^^^ who
accounts for the transfer Sta rrjv fipaSvTrjra (tarditatis
causa).
When the testudo was placed on wheels (subrotata) and
"* Vitr. X, 13.
"» Math. Vett. p. 3.
26
equipped with a more ponderous framework to support the
increased strain of an aries in action, its progress was nec-
essarily impeded by the additional weight, especially where
there were irregularities in the ground. Hence its move-
ments resembled the sluggishness of the creature that Pacu-
vius calls tardigrada}'^^ Clearly the testudo sheltering the
ram is an adaptation of a previous testudo, and the re-
semblance in the slow progress is an incidental and neces-
sary concomitant. In other words its slowness is a result
of the modified conditions, not a cause of the name.
MUSCULUS, A Little Mouse; transf., A Small
Shed-Like Protection used in Siege Operations.
A very romantic flavor has been imparted by Vegetius
to his description of the Musculi, the small shed-like pro-
tections for besiegers. They form the advance guard in
storming cities, he informs us, and prepare the way for
the larger siege machines. They receive their name from
the sea musculus, which, though comparatively small, still
furnishes aid and guidance to the whale : Musculos dicunt
minores machinas, quibus protecti bellatores sudatum au-
ferunt civitatis; fossatum etiam adportatis lapidibus lignis
ac terra non solum conplent, sed etiam solidant, ut turres
ambulatoriae sine impedimento iungantur ad murum. Vo-
cantur autem a marinis beluis musculi; nam quem ad
modum illi, cum minores sint, tamen balaenis auxilium ad-
minisculumque iugiter exhibent, ita istae machinae breviores
[vel] deputatae turribus magnis adventui illarum parant
viam itineraque praemuniunt.
The story that the sea-mouse was a sort of cicerone to
the whale was too good for Pliny to omit. He cites the
musculus as being a fish well known for its friendship for
the whale. When the latter's vision is obstructed by his
fat heavy eyebrows, the musculus swims ahead of his great-
ness, the whale, showing the treacherous shoals and per-
forming the function of eyes : amicitiae exempla sunt . . . ba-
laena et musculus, quando praegravi superciliorum pondere
"' Pac. ap. Cic. Div. ii, 64, 133.
"'Veg. iv, 16.
^ 27
obrutis eius oculis, infestantia magnitudinem vada praena-
tans demonstrat, oculorumque vice fungitur.^^^
Although it is not essential for a belief to be well-founded
in order to gain sufficient currency to effect a transfer, the
metaphor of Vegetius appears too involved to appeal to
the popular consciousness. It is hardly probable that the
soldiers strained their imagination to such an extent when
easy and obvious comparisons presented themselves at every
turn.
In order to gain currency, a transfer must appeal to the
rank and file of the soldiery. This means that the story
would have to be generally known to the troops, and, in
addition, that the preliminary manoeuvring of the mus-
culi must be a regular part of siege tactics, a thing which
is not emphasized by military writers.
Isidore's fanciful derivation from murusculus (musculus
cuniculo similis fit, quo murus perfoditur, ex quo appellatur,
quasi murusculus) y^'^^ is another indication of the density of
the mist that beclouded the real etymology.
Oman states^ ^^ that the bore and its shelter are sometimes
referred to in the chronicles under the one term ^^ musculus,
' the mouse,' because its object was to gnaw a round hole in
the lower courses of the rampart."
In classic times, the musculus was always clearly differen-
tiated from the terehra, and its employment to protect the
operation of the latter machine was but one of several ap-
plications.
If the figure were that of gnawing, we should expect the
term musculus to be applied first to the bore or pick, and
then by synecdoche to the mantlets, whereas the converse
appears to have been the case, e. g. cupiunt murum succidere
musclis.^2^
"'Plin. Nat. ix, 62, 88, (186). Cf. also id. xi, 37, 62, (165), Musculus
marinus, qui balaenam antecedit. The English has a close analogy in the
pilot-fish, " so named because it is often seen in company with a shark,
swimming near a ship, on account of which sailors imagine that it acts as
a pilot to the shark." Webster.
"' Isid. Orig. xviii, 1 1, 4.
""Oman, A History of the Art of War, p. 133.
*^ Abbo, De Bellis Parisiacae Urbis, i, 99 in Scriptores Rerum Germani-
28
Again, had the idea of gnawing even remotely occurred
to the Romans, it is difficult to understand how Isidore, who
ransacked Latin literature for derivations, should be driven
to his hypothesis, especially when he uses perfodio, a term
suggestive of gnawing.
The appositeness of the figure of gnawing seems to be
merely incidental, and that with a special use of the mus-
culus at a time when the bore was one of the two great
weapons of siegecraft.
When one considers the epithets and verbs descriptive
of the advance of machines of the mantlet character, it seems
hardly probable that all should escape a sobriquet recalling
the method of locomotion. Several machines of the mus-
culus type are said to creep.
Lucan pictures vividly the advance of the vinea; mediis
subrepit vinea muris.^^^
In the case of the large towers, this verb is very appro-
priate because of the motion of the wheels :
Hae (turres) nullo fixerunt robore terram,
Sed per iter longum causa repsere latenti.^^^
In the cat^ the creeping is again prominent.
Hue faciunt reptare Catum, tectique sub illo
Suifodiunt murum.^^*
Significant is the epithet ' creeping ' in locusta ambula^
toria (see p. 24), likewise a machine to protect storming
parties. ,
The alternative of creeping affords an easy transition for
the figure, and while not so striking as the reason adduced
by Vegetius, is still highly picturesque.^ ^^ As the adjective
"^ Lucan, ii, 506.
*^ Lucan, iii, 457-458.
"* Quoted by Du Cange, s. v. Catus.
"* In ^ Dream of Fair Women, Tennyson adds a touch of life to his
picture by the use of the epithet creeping:
Heroes tall
Dislodging pinnacle and parapet
Upon the tortoise creeping to the wall.
In English, the figure of creeping or crawling appears in caterpillar-
traction-engine. Worm-fence and snake-fence suggest the sinuous appear-
ance of their animal prototypes when in motion.
29
* walking ' is very apropos for the erect advance of the tall
perpendicular towers, turres ambulatoriae, so the term mus-
culi is quite suited for describing the low horizontal ma-
chines, which move slowly and with their bodies almost
upon the ground.
The fact that musculus, a muscle, is a figure drawn from
the creeping motion, that of the biceps, supports this view.
TEREBRA A Wood- worm (?) : A Bore for Pene-
trating Walls During Sieges.
An instance of popular etymology, suggesting that of
sparrow-grass in English, is seen in Isidore's derivation for
terebra: Terebra vocata a verme ligni, qui vocatur terebra,
quem Graeci repehova (sic) vocant. Hinc dicta terebra, quod
ut vermis terendo forat, quasi terefora, vel quasi transforans.
CORVUS, Gk. Aco/oa? Crow: transf., i. A Grapnel;
2. A Battering Instrument.
Corvus is a picturesque term for a pointed instrument.
Even the clutch of the hand-bow, X€£/oou/?7t/coi/ rof oi/, prob-
ably gets its name, according to the scholiast, from its like-
ness to the beak of the bird: addimus fieri posse corvum
ideo appellatum quod corvi caput cum (sic) suo rostro
imitetur.^^'''
If a machine resembled the beak of a bird, it was very
natural for corvus to be selected as its name, since the
strength and power of that bird are subjects of frequent
comment. Aristotle applies to the crow the terms, ia-xypov
Kal a-KXrjpov,^^^ 'strong and destructive.'
Egyptian crows, Kopa/ce; AlyvTmoi, says Aelian, on failing
to get what they want, perch in flocks upon ships and sever
the cables and rigging by pecking: aruxw^^'^^'^ ^^ ^v
rjTOVVj avfiirerovTaiy Kal eavTOis KaOuravre; iirl to Kepa^ t^9
j/€a)9 Tt]ijli elvai a^iov
KaTacrKevTJ'; .^^"^
The corax suggests the corvus demolitor. It seems pos-
sible that the direct transliteration from the Greek in corax
and the epithet in corvus demolitor serve the same purpose,
that of differentiating the battering-crow from the types em-
ployed at Tyre and off Mylae.
*"Veg. iv, 14.
^^'Vitr. X, 13, 8.
"' Math. Vett. p. 5.
33
GRUS, Gk. yepavof;, Crane; trans f., i. A Battering
Instrument; 2. A Lifting Device.
Vitruvius in speaking of the corvus demolitor, a sort of
battering instrument (see p. 31), says that it is sometimes
dubbed grus\ corvum demolitorem quern nonnulli gruem
appellant.^ ^^
As several of these animal names reflect their Greek
origin, this use of grus may have been influenced by the
wooden pounding device, called 'yepavo^^ which the Greek
miller employed in crushing his grain. Hesychius com-
ments on y€pavo<; in this sense : opyavov ^vKlvov, iv a> KOTnovaiP
ol a\LTO'7roLol TCt dXLTa.
It will be recalled that Polybius compares the corvus of
Duilius to a baker's pestle.^^^
Although Vitruvius's casual remark, in which the term
grus is applied to a battering instrument, is the only direct
reference in Classic Latin to a military grus, we can postu-
late the existence of another gruSj a lifting device somewhat
similar to the Tyrian corvus. As in the previous instance,
grus was the vulgar word, while corvus was in good stand-|
ing. Though the term corvus at first reigned supreme,
grtis at an early period challenged its position, and after
centuries of conflict finally supplanted its predecessor.
The lifting corvus, which is first mentioned in connection
with the siege of Tyre, was manipulated by a series of
pulleys and tackle. In describing the siege of Syracuse,
Plutarch mentions the yepavcf: , although in a rather re-
served manner : ra? he {vavsi) X^P^'' ^^I'^VP^^'* ^ crro^iaaiv eUaa-
fievoif; yepdvcjVj avacnrSia-aL (Kepalai) irpcppaOev 6pdd K6)(^pr]Tat *Ha)9
apird^ovaa to acjfia to M.€/jlvovo<;}^^
That the term grus was applied to such a contrivance is
indicated by the various forms of the word grus which
appear in the Romance languages to denote the machine.
Fr. Grue. Grande machine avec quoi on eleve de grosses
pierres pour les batiments.
Sp. Grua. Pescante, instrumento compuesto de poleas,
cuerdas y ganchos, para subir y levantar cosas de peso.
It. Gru. Macchina per la cui azione si sollevano i pesi.
Lengua Castellana, Grua. Se usa principalmente en los
muelles, para la carga y descarga de buques.
Port. Grou. Guindaste, pole.
Other nations which derived their civilization from the
Romans simply translate the old grus\ cf. English crane;
German Krahn.
We may conclude from this evidence that just as the
colloquial manduco and caballus existed side by side with
the literary edo and equus, and finally displaced them, so
the vulgar grus struggled with corvus for recognition and
"'Polyb. viii, 6, (8), I sq.
*" Tac. Hist, iv, 30.
"*Poll. iv, 130.
35
ultimately achieved a signal victory over its more aristo-
cratic synonym before the lines between the Romance lan-
guages were clearly drawn.
The rivalry between grus and corvus may perhaps be
roughly paralled in English by alii gator -wrench and croc-
odile-wrench. The latter expression, perhaps a provincial-
ism, is sometimes used colloquially, though recognized by
no standard dictionary. Alligator-shears and crocodile-
shears are however regarded as identical by The Century
Dictionary and Cyclopedia.
The transfer of the term ^epavo% is, of course, due to a
fancied resemblance between the long neck of the bird and
the projecting arm of the machine. The Greek writers
make frequent comment on the neck of the crane, some-
times in complimentary terms, sometimes disparagingly.
Homer expresses his admiration in a graceful hexameter :
'^r]v5iv 7j yepdvcov rj kvkvcov BovXtx^SeLpcov}^^
Aristotle in more prosaic fashion speaks of the long necks,
Toxs Tpaxn^oxs fiaicpovi^^^ of the cranes, and in other pas-
sages shows that it was proverbial for an epicure to wish for
a gullet like a crane's : TjUf^aro ti? 6yjrodpvyya
avTO) fiaKporepov yepdvov yeveadai}^''
SUCULA, A Little Pig; transf., A Windlass, used in
THE Scorpion and Catapult, ^^^ as Well
AS in Other Devices.
PORCULUS, A Little Pig; transf., A Clutching
Device used with the Sucula.
Festus attributes the transfer in the meaning of sucula to
the figure of a breeding sow, surrounded by her litter:
Sucula est machinae genus teretis materiae, et foratae, ac
crassae, quam, ut uber scrofae, porculi circumstant sic, ver-
santesque ductario fune volvunt.^^^
"* //. ii, 460.
'"^Arist. De A const. 800 b.
"^Arist. Nic. Eth. 11 18 a. Cf. Athen. iv, 131 e: y^pavos tovtovI toO
xdffKOVTOs diareivafJL^VT} dia rod vpwKTOv Kal twv vXevpwv biaKbi\p€iev rb fUrunrov.
^^Vitr. X, 12, I.
'^ Fest. p. 301 Miill.
36
Walde in the first edition of his Latin etymology^^®
distinguishes between sucula, the diminutive of sus, and
sucula, the windlass. If that distinction be warranted, the
figurative use of sucula in Festus is a case of popular ety-
mology, much like that of sparrow-grass or cow-cumber in
English. The mistake would recall the popular miscon-
ception of suculae, ' Hyades,' which must have caused Pliny
much amusement. His comment is as follows : Nostri a
similitudine cognominis Graeci, propter sues inpositum ar-
bitrantes, inperitia appellavere suculas.^^^
In his second edition, however, Walde regards sucula,
a little pig, and sucula, a windlass, as identical in origin.
When the term sucula, a windlass, was derived, whether
popularly or deliberately, from sucula, a little pig, it was
an easy transition to liken the clutch in the device to a
suckling pig. It is quite evident that Cato had such a
figure in mind when he gave directions for the construction
of a wine-press: Porculum in media sucula facito.^^^
The metaphor in porculus is then a logical extension of
the figure in sucula.
In English, the term dog is used to denote the device for
clutching and holding a cable in a windlass. We may
compare also the Greek use of 01/09, wtV/co?, a windlass,
winch or handle of a windlass, the figure being developed
from the idea of the ass as a beast of burden.
CAPUT PORCI (vel PORCINUM) : A Hog's Head;
transf., A Wedge-Shaped Order of Battle.
Hogs head was a popular expression in the sermo cas-
trensis to denote the V or wedge-shaped formation of battle.
Ammianus writes as follows with regard to the military
porcus: desinente in angustum f route, quem habitum caput
porci simplicitas militaris appellat.^^'
Vegetius comments with greater detail : Cuneus dicitur
multitudo peditum, quae iuncta cum acie primo angustior,
*•" Walde, Lat. etym. Worterhuch, s. v.
*"Plin. Nat. xviii, 26, 66, (247).
Cato, Agr. xix, 2.
^"'Amin. xvii, 13, 9.
37
xieinde latior procedit et adversariorum ordines rumpit,
quia a pluribus in unum locum tela mittuntur. Quam rem
tnilites nominant caput porcinum,^^*
The transfer, as is shown by the synonym cuneus, is due
to the shape, although we may well suppose that the epithet
owed its favor to the pictures it recalled in the minds of
the soldiers, who, as country lads, had seen the destructive
snout plough its way through the earth in search of roots.
ERICIUS, A Hedge-Hog: iransf., A Device Equipped
WITH Spinose Shafts to Repel or
Retard Assailants.
The ericius was a defensive contrivance equipped with
long echinated shafts. While it is not described in detail
by any Latin author, its structure may easily be imagined
with the aid of a passage in which Sallust makes it the
basis of a comparison. He tells how javelins radiated from
an axle in the manner of a military ericius: Saxaque in-
gentia et orbes axe iuncti per pronum incitabantur, axi-
busque eminebant in modum ericii militaris veruta binum
pedum.^^^
It is of course obvious that the likeness is between the
spines of the animal and the spinose shafts of the device.
This transfer must have appealed to the soldiers, since the
animal, as Pliny shows, is ready, when curled up like a
ball, to ward off its foes: ubi (erinacei) sensere venantem,
contracto et ore pedibusque ac parte omni inferiore, qua
raram et innocuam habent lanuginem, convolvuntur in for-
mam pilae, ne quid comprehendi possit praeter aculeos.^^®
Some time later, Cassiodorus draws a lesson from the
hedge-hog, which, thanks to an all-wise nature, is always
under arms, being protected by a countless number of the
sharpest spines : Herinacius . . . est, quem vocamus hericium,
animal omnino timidum, natura providente semper arma-
tum : cuius cutem in vicem setarum sudes acutissimae den-
sissimaeque communiunt.^^^
Analogous to the military hedge-hogs, but with a meta-
'•*Veg. iii, 19. '"Plin. Nat. viii, z^, 56, (133).
'« Sail, apud Non. 555, M. '" In Psalm. 103, 18.
38
phor less suggestive of their animal prototypes, are the
Frisian horses, cheveaux-de-frise, of the seventeenth cen-
tury, which were pieces of timber set with long iron spikes
and employed in defensive operations, especially against
cavalry charges.
CERVI ET CERVOLI, Deer: transf., Antler-like
Branches Set up in ihe Ground.
The cervi were sharpened branches of trees set up to ob-
struct or impede the advance of a foe. Caesar used them
effectively at the siege of Alesia : Huic (vallo) loricam pin-
nasque adiecit, grandibus cervis eminentibus ad commissu-
ras pluteorum atque aggeris, qui ascensum hostium tar-
darent.i^^
The cervi were also used to block the progress of an
enemy in the open :
Quaque patet campus planis ingressibus hostis,
Cervorum ambustis imitantur cornua ramis, . . . ^^^
The cervoli, cheveaux-de-frise on a small scale, are rec-
ommended by Hyginus for use in fortifications :
Cervoli trunci ramosi. Ad hos decurritur, si soli natura
nimia teneritate cespes frangitur, neque lapide mobili nisi
confragosum vallum extrui potest, nee fossa fieri, ut non
ripae decidant.^^^
The metaphor in this instance is unusually easy, since
the terms ramus and ramosus were regularly used for the
antlers of the deer. Pliny does not hesitate to call them
rami, 'branches'; (Natura) lusit animalium armis, sparsit
haec in ramos, ut cervorum.^"^^
Phaedrus uses the figure very felicitously as he pictures
a stag admiring his branching antlers reflected in a spring :
Ad fontem cervus, cum bibisset, restitit,
Et in liquore vidit effigiem suam.
Ibi dum ramosa mirans laudat cornua . . . ^"^^
^•"Caes. Gall, vii, 72, 4.
'~ Sil. X, 412-3.
""Hyg. Mun. Castr. 51. Cf. also Frontin. Strat. i, 5, 2.
"^Plin. Nat. xi, 37, 45, (123). Cf. id. viii, 22, 50, (116).
"' Phaedr. i, 12, 3-5.
39
Vergil uses the adjective arboreus as well as ramosus in
describing the branch-like appearance of the horns.^^^
Since ramus and ramosus are applied so freely to the
antlers of the stag, it is very natural for cervi to be em-
ployed for the antler-like branches.
Varro's explanation that the term is due to the resem-
blance to the horns is, of course, obvious : Cervi ab simili-
tudine cornuum cervi : item reliqua fere ab similitudine ut
vineae, testudo, aries.^'^*
ONAGER, Gk. ovaypo^, A Wild Ass ; transf..
An Engine for Throwing Stones.
Ammianus has enlivened his account of the transfer of
onager by a piece of striking imagery. A new style of
speaking, says he, applied the term onager because the
wild ass, on being pressed by hunters, kicks up stones with
such force that they penetrate the breasts of the pursuers,
or break bones, crushing even the skull itself : onagri voca-
bulum indidit aetas novella ea re, quod asini feri cum vena-
tibus agitantur, ita eminus lapides post terga calcitrando
emittunt, ut perforent pectora sequentium aut perfractis
ossibus capita ipsa displodant.^^^
Judging from the tales of the effectiveness of this machine
one may conclude that it was a worthy representative of its
animal prototype.
Ammianus informs us that it utterly disintegrated what-
ever it struck: Nam muro saxeo huius modi moles (onager)
inposita disiectat quidquid invenerit subter concussione vio-
lenta, non pondere.^^^
Vegetius too brings before us in animated terms an idea
of its destructiveness. Stones thrown by it crush the bones
of man and beast, and even disable the weapons of the foe.
No fortification can withstand its blows, since it hurls mis-
siles with lightning-like rapidity, leaving ruin in their path :
Onager dirigit lapides . . . Saxis gravioribus per onagrum
*"Verg. Aen. i, 190; Ed, vii, 30.
"*Varro Ling, v, 117.
Amm. xxiii, 4, 7.
Amm. xxiii, 4, 5.
40
destinatis, non solum equi eliduntur et homines, sed etiam
hostium machinamenta franguntur.^'^^
Ballistae et onagri, si a peritis diligentissime temperen-
tur, universa praecedunt, a quibus nee virtus ulla nee mu-
nimina possunt defendere bellatores. Nam more fulminis
quicquid percusserit aut dissolvere aut inrumpere con-
suerunt.-^^^
It is clear that the basis of the transfer of meaning lies in
the similarity between the motion of the arm of the onager
in discharging missiles and the animal's use of its hind
legs. The relation of cause and effect was again obscured
by the Romans, who emphasized the likeness in results.
The Greek ovaypo^ as a ballista is late and evidently re-
flects Latin usage. Procopius speaks of it as though it were
rather unfamiliar : cr(f>evh6vri he avrat (at fnj')(avaL) ela-tv ifi--
(fyepeU kol ovaypoL eirLKoXovvTaL}'^^
The ovaypoL of Suidas were defensive machines to seize
assailants, the figure being due to the biting of the animal :
ovaypOL p>r)')(avrjfxaTay ol Xeyofxevoi apiray&i^ oXye apird^eiv tois
irpoaiovra^ iiri^aWop.evoL elxov.
Instead of the horse, the ancients regularly used as
beasts of burden and for menial tasks animals of the same
genus as the onager, and so had ample occasion to note their
freedom with their heels. Pliny recommends the adminis-
tering of frequent potions of wine to check the familiarity
of the mule in this respect: Mulae calcitratus inhibetur vini
crebriore potu.^^^ In the same chapter, he pays his respects^
to the unusually hard hoofs of the animal: duritia eximia
pedum.
Its dangerous heels enabled the wild-ass to make an al-
liance with the lion:
Sijprjfi ovaypof; xal Xecov ifcoivcovovv
okKy fikv 6 XioaVy 6 S' ovo^ rjv iroalv Kpeiaaoav}^^
"' Veg. iv, 22.
"' Id. iv, 29.
"'Procop. B. G. i, 21, 19.
"® Pliny Nat. viii, 44, 69, (174). Cf. also id. xxx, 16, 53, (149) : mulas^
non calcitrare, cum vinum biberint.
"" Babr. 67, 1-2.
41
It is quite possible that it is the hoofs of the ass and mule,
as well as those of the horse, whose imprint we see in the
Latin recalcitro, and the English descendant, recalcitrant.
EQUULEUS (ECULEUS), A Little Horse; transf..
An Instrument of Torture.
While the equuleus is not properly included under the
Machinae Bellicae, it was sometimes used in camp life as
Curtius shows : Tot conscii, nee in eculeum quidem inpositi,
verum fatebuntur?^^^
Prudentius refers to the equuleus as a noxialis stipes, evi-
dently a piece of timber of stout body, which assisted per-
haps by converging supports, somewhat similar to stocky
legs, roughly resembled a horse. ^^^
Isidore, however, assigns another reason for the transfer,
attributing it to the method of inflicting torture : Equuleus
autem dictus quod extendat.^^^
The transfer in meaning is made easy by the fact that the
horse is an animal traditionally associated v/ith torture.
Among the early Achaeans, says Murray, " if a woman
attempted to bear a child to any man but her special master,
she was apt to be burned alive, or torn asunder by horses."^^^
In speaking of the mutilation of the corpse of Hector,
the same author says : " A far worse story was really handed
down by the tradition. There are fragments of the rude
unexpurgated saga still extant, according to which Hector
was still alive when his enemy tied him to the chariot rail
and proceeded to drag him to death. Sophocles, always
archaic in such matters, explicitly follows this legend
(AjaXj 1031). So does Euripides {Androm. 399). Even
so late a writer as Vergil seems to adopt it. "^^^
The Vergil passage runs as follows :
^^ Curt, vi, 10, 10. Cf. also Amm. xiv, 5, 9.
"* Cf . Vaulting-horse, wood-horse.
"* Isid. Orig. v, 27, 21.
"* Murray, The Rise of the Greek Epic, p. 75.
"" Murray, id. p. 118.
42
Hector
Visus adesse mihi largosque eflfundere fletus,
Raptatus bigis, ut quondam, aterque cruento
Pulvere perque pedes traiectus lora tumentis.^^'^
According to one form of the story, Dionysus had the
limbs of Lycurgus wrenched apart by horses : /coKel Karh
Aiovvaov ^ovXrja-LV viro LTTTrayv hLa(^dapeld6LpOVTO,^^^
The sharp spines are so characteristic of the fish, that the
term murex was applied to many sharp objects. It is com-
monly used to denote jagged and dangerous rocks : Muri-
ces petrae in litore similes muricibus vivis, acutissimae et
navibus perniciosae.^^^
^^ Greenough and Kittredge, Words and their Ways in English Speech,
p. 367.
*^ Veg. iii, 24. The Latin term murex is used by Curt, iv, 13, 36, and by
Val. Max. iii, 7, 2.
^^ Polyaenus i, 39, 2.
*"Isid. Orig. xvi, 3, 3.
45
Pliny informs us that Cato, in order to prevent the as-
sembling of the people in the Forum, decreed that it be
strewn with murices, probably sharp stones : mutatis mori-
bus Catonis Censorii qui sternendum quoque forum murici-
bus censuerat.^^^ These murices may be forerunners of the
military murices.
With an emphasis of such character placed upon the sharp
points, the transition is very easy to the military murex, the
prominent feature of w^hich is the sharp spine-like shaft.
The murex was used also as a means of torture for pris-
oners. The Romans, according to the traditional story, re-
taliated for the cruelty to Regulus by confining Carthaginian
captives in a box bristling with murices, ' spikes '.'
Tuditanus somno diu (Regulum) prohibitum atque ita
vita privatum refert, idque ubi Romae cognitum est, nobilis-
simos Poenorum captivos liberis Reguli a senatu deditos et
ab his in armario muricibus praefixo destitutos eodemque
insomnia cruciatos interisse.^^^
In English military parlance the expression crows* feet
is used at times to denote the caltrop.
ASPIS, Gk. oo-TTiV, An Asp ; iransf., A Shield.
To Justinian we are indebted for an instance of the use in
Latin of the word aspis, meaning shield : Prohibemus priva-
tes fabricari et vendere arcus, sagittas ; aspidas insuper sive
scutaria.2^*
The Thesaurus of Stephanus and the Dictionary of Lid-
dell and Scott unite with the Auctor Etymologici Magni
in giving precedence to the second meaning. Saalfeld in
his T ensaurus Italograecus and the Thesaurus Ling. Lat.
adopt the reverse order. In Greek, cunrk means shield in
nearly every instance, while in the Latin aspis the order
of frequency is the reverse.
The Auctor E. M. ascribes the change to the method of
locomotion of the animal as it advances in a whirling coil
^Plin. Nat. xix, i, 6, (24).
»"Gell. vii, (vi),4, 4.
^Novell. lust. 86, 4.
46
and not elongated. It is a figure drawn from the weapon,
for the serpent is accustomed to fight with its body coiled.
ao-TTt? . . . eTrl rov epireroVy hia to kvk\ov<; iroielv rov aay/JLaTO^
/cal fiT) rap^eo)? eKTeiveiv ek /jLrJKO*;. airo /jL€Ta(j)opa<; tov oirXov,
ovTco properly the claws of a scorpion or
crab, is transferred to the claw-shaped trigger of the
machine.
That the Romans had a wholesome respect for the scor-
pion, is shown by Ovid's vivid picture of its erect menacing
tail : elatae metuendus acumine caudae scorpios.^^^
The belief in the deadly effect of its venom is revealed by
the tradition that Orion, the Nimrod of Classic Mythology,
was killed by a scorpion : Orion, cum venaretur et in eo
exercitatissimum se esse confideret, dixisse etiam Dianae et
Latonae se omnia quae ex terra oriuntur, interficere valere :
quare terram permotam, scorpionem misisse, qui eum inter-
ficere demonstratur. ^^^
That the scorpion impressed its individuality upon the
Greeks, is attested by numerous proverbs.
^" Amm. xxiii, 4, 7.
'^^This word recalls the derivation from ffKopirl^ti).
^ Ov. Fast, iv, 163.
*» Hyg. Astr. ii, 26.
so
* To act the scorpion/ as Hesychius tells us, denotes
bestial anger. aKopTrUoaaL' g)9 Orjpiov rpaxOvov, opyl^ov.
aKopirCov oKTairovv iycipei^; reminds one of the English ex-
pression, 'You're stirring up a hornets' nest/
VTTO iravrl \{6cp^ becomes proverbial for danger. Soph-
ocles makes excellent use of the figure in the Captives.
iv iravrl yap tol aKopirCo^ (f>povpel XiOw.^^^ * Under every
stone, I tell you, a scorpion lurks.'
(TKOpTTLO^ ^7)T(av oT(p iy^p L/JLyjrei, to icevTpov,^^^ recalls the Bib-
lical lion seeking whom he may devour.
CHELONIUM, Gk. x^^^^^^i;, A Tortoise Shell;
transj., A Part of the Scorpion, Apparently
THE Hook, Axle, and Frame.
Heron has given the reason for this name, ascribing it to
the general contour of the appliances as they rise from the
body of the machine : eKoXovv to fiepo^ tov iinKeL/JLevov Kavovo^
yeXoiVLOv, ^v ye Kal vy^rfKjOTepov tov einKeLixevov Kavovo^i,^^^
Commenting on this passage, the scholiast confirms the
words of Heron : Chelonium Graece xeXooi/toi/. Quid sit
proprie in catapulta chelonium, ex hoc loco manifeste patet,
ratio enim vocabuli apponitur, ait enim Heron, vel potius
innuit, ideo dictum, quod superet sua eminentia summam
superficiem summae regulae; erat enim instar testudinei
dorsi elatum.^^'^
Figurative uses of the Greek and Latin words for back
are rather common. Commenting on Verg. A en. i, no,
Servius cites Homer's vayTa OaXdaa-q^. He adds that dorsum
' reef ' immediately following aras, is quite in keeping, since
in Greek altars are called horses* backs: Dorsum autem hoc
loco non absurde ait, quia Graece arae ipsae Xttitov vS)Ta
dicuntur, ut Sinnius Capito tradidit,- secundum Homerum.
In English, the turtleback or whaleback, is '' an arched
protection erected over the upper deck of a steamer at the
bow, and often at the stern also, to guard against damage
'^Soph. fr. 34 (Campbell). ""« Math. Vett. p. 124.
*" Poll, vi, 125. ^ Id. p. 332.
51
from the breaking on board of heavy seas." By synecdoche
the terms are then applied to the entire vessel.
In baseball circles the turtlehack diamond has made its
advent in recent years.
LUPUS, Gk. Xu/co9, a Wolf; transj., A Jaw-Shaped
Device for Seizing the Aries,^^^ or even Men.
An instance of the military use of this word is found in
a passage where Livy tells of iron wolves threatening to
carry besiegers aloft within the walls : in alios lupi superne
ferrei iniecti, ut in periculo essent, ne suspensi in murum ex-
traherentur.^^^
Comparing this wolf with the one employed to recover
articles from the bottom of a well, one might suppose the
transfer to lie in the physical act of seizing: Lupus qui est
canicula, ferreus harpax, quia si quid in puteum decidit,
rapit et extrahit, unde et nomen accipit.^^*^
An indication of the real reason for the name can be ob-
tained from the description of Vegetius, who lays stress on
the shape of the gripping apparatus, which resembles a pair
of shears and is equipped with teeth : Plures in modum for-
ficis dentatum funibus inligant ferrum, quem lupum vocant,
adprehensumque arietem aut evertunt aut ita suspendunt ut
impetum non habet feriendi.^^^
Further confirmation of the view that it is the shape of the
jaws, and not their action, that causes the transfer is found
in lupus, a bit with wolf-like teeth, and in lupus, a handsaw.
The power to grip and seize is a result of the shape. As in
other instances, a confusion has arisen between cause and
effect. In English a close analogy is found in the seven-
teen uses of dog, " a name given to various mechanical de-
vices, usually having or consisting of a tooth or claw used
for gripping or holding."^^^
^This recalls the proverbial antipathy between the wolf and the sheep.
"" Liv. xxviii, 3, 7.
"° Isid. Orig. xx, 15, 4.
''' Veg. iv, 23.
'^ Murray, AVw Eng. Diet. s. v. dog.
52
The proverbial rapacitas of the wolf,^^^ which is respon-
sible for lupus, a voracious fish or person, facilitates the
selection of the word wolf to denote the device which works
with results so similar.
In Procopius there is described a Xv/co?, ' wolf,' which,
though more complex than the Roman device, operated with
wonderful precision and accuracy.^^^ Like onager (see p.
40), it is an instance of Greek indebtedness to Latin for an
animal name to designate a military machine.
Wolves of various types were employed during the mid-
dle ages :
Lupus Belli appellatur a Matth. Westmonaster. ann.
1304: lussit rex arietem fabricari, quem Graeci Nicontam
vocant, quasi vincentem omnia, et Lupum belli. Verum
aries indecens et incompositus parum aut nihil profuit:
Lupus autem belli, minus sumptuosus inclusis plus nocuit.
Lupus, nude, in Chronico Estiensi apud Murator. tom. 15,
col. 359: Unum maximum Lupum cum quo capiebat for-
tilitias domini Marchionis.
Loupus. Mandatum Ricardi 11. Regis Angl. ann. 1394:
Necnon ad quoscumque defectus, tam in muris, portis, turel-
lis, Loupis, pontibus, barreris et fossatis, quam in domi-
buS.235
CUNICULUS, A Rabbit; transf., A Tunnel Employed
IN Siege Operations.
The transferred application of cuniculus for an under-
ground passage was a very broad one, including even aque-
ducts. The term was, however, used most frequently in
its military signification. Among a warlike people this
was very natural. As a nation, the Romans were in their
early days more familiar with siege tactics than with
mining operations.
^^Ael. N. A. xi, 37, has classified the wolf, dog, lion, and panther by the
term Kapxapbhovra^ animals with teeth dove-tailed, so to speak, and hence
adapted for seizing. Of the first two animals, which are the more familiar
ones, the Latin chose wolf for the figurative use, the English selected dog.
^Procop. B. G. 21, 19 sq.
^' Quoted by Du Cange, s. v. Lupus.
53
In spite of the statement of Varro^^^ and Pliny,^^'^ cunu
cuius, * an underground passage/ is derived from the name
of an animal and not vice versa.
Paulus gives the real sequence of the transfer in the
first of his explanations, though the second is an etymolog-
ical absurdity : Cuniculum, id est foramen sub terra occul-
tum, aut ab animali, quod simile est lepori, appellatur, cui
subterfossa terra latere est solitum, aut a cuneorum simili-
tudine qui omnem materiam intrant fidentes.^^^
Vegetius, however, displays no hesitancy in his deriva-
tion, rightly ascribing the transfer to the animal's habit of
burrowing: Genus oppugnationum est subterraneum atque
secretum, quod cuniculum vocant a leporibus, qui cavernas
sub terris fodiunt ibique conduntur.
While the burrowing causes the transfer, an intermediate
step must have been the application of the term cuniculus to
the results of the animal's excavating propensities, i. e. to
the burrow.
A figure somewhat similar to that in cuniculus is found
in talpa, the mole, or digger: Talpa. Machina ad suffo-
diendos muros, sub qua latent, qui cuniculos conficiunt.^*®
The cunicularii of earlier days are recalled by the tal-
parii: Habebat quippe quosdam artifices, quos Fossores vel
Talparios vocant, qui ad modum talpae subterranea fodi-
entes, quaslibet murorum et turrium firmitates ferramentis
validissimis perrumpebant.^*^
The popular belief in the burrowing ability of the rabbit
is shown by Pliny's statement, on Varro's authority, that the
cuniculi undermined a town in Spain.^^^ M. Varro auctor
est a cuniculis suffosum in Hispania oppidum.
Martial has a clever distich playing upon the two uses
of the word cunictdus:
Gaudet in effossis habitare cuniculus antris.
Monstravit tacitas hostibus ille vias.^*^
^ Varro Rust, iii, 12, 6. ^ Paul. Fest. p. 50 Miill.
^Plin. Nat. viii, 55. 81, (218). "^ Veg. iv, 24.
"" Du Cange, s. v. Talpa.
'"Quoted by Du Cange, s. v. Talparii,
'*'Plin. Nat. viii, 29, 43, (104).
**• Mart, xiii, 60.
54
TIGRIS, IN Persian, An Arrow; in Lat., A Tiger.
An interesting instance of the opposite phenomenon, the
name of a weapon giving rise to the name of an animal,
is seen in the Latin tigris. The word goes back ultimately,
through the Greek riypt^^ to the Persian, where, as Varro
says, it was applied to an arrow or a very swift stream:
Tigris qui est ut leo varius, qui vivus capi adhuc non potu-
it; vocabulum e lingua Armenia; nam ibi et sagitta et quod
vehementissimum flumen dicitur Tigris.^*
Pliny has a few words of the same tenor as Varro's: a
celeritate Tigris incipit vocari; ita appellant Medi sa-
gittam.245
MULI, Mules: MULI MARIANI: i, Devices used by
Soldiers of Marius for Carrying Baggage; 2, The
Soldiers who Carried their own Baggage.
While the expression Muli Mariani was applied to the
soldiers of Marius, as Plutarch shows,^^^ there seems to
be no doubt that the expression signified originally a forked
device over which the baggage dangled in a manner sug-
gesting the legs of a horseman astride his mount. Festus
speaks as follows : Muli Mariani dici solent a Mario instituti,
cuius milites in furca interposita tabella varicosius onera
supportare assuerant.^*"^
From the same source we have a more definite statement
that it was the furcillae that were called Muli Mariani:
Aerumnulas Plautus refert furcillas, quibus religatas sar-
cinas viatores gerebant. Quarum usum quia Gains Marius
rettulit, Muli Mariani postea appellabantur.^^^
The secondary transfer of meaning from the instrument
to the soldier is very easy and natural, in fact inevitable.
Varicose'^^^ 'astraddle ' shows that the change in significa-
^ Varro Ling, v, lOO. Saalfeld in Tensaurus Italograecus derives the
Becond meaning from the first: 'Tigris, der von seinem pfeilschnellen (cf.
celeris . . . sagittas, Verg. Aen. i, 187) Laufe benannte Tigerfluss.'
^Plin. Nat. vi, 27, 31, (127).
'"Plut. Mar. 13.
""" Paul. Fest. p. 148 Miill.
'*'lb. p. 24.
"° It seems best to connect varicose with varicus * straddling,' rather than
with varicosus * varicose.'
55
tion is due to the burden rather than the supporting object.
The figurative use arises then from the general resemblance
between the pendent baggage and a rider astride his animal.
If one may judge from the animal names (or derivatives
from them) included under Machinae Bellicae in Du
Cange,^^^ a siege during the Middle Ages might have sug-
gested a zoological garden. The list is as follows:
Aries^^^ Musclus
Asellus Onager
Berbices Panthera
Cancer Scropha
Catus Spingarda^^^
Colobrina Spingardella
Ericius Sus
Falconeta Talpa
Gatta Talparii
Hirundo Turturela
Locusta Vulpes
Lupus Vulpecula^^^
Moschetta
Du Cange, Tom. vii, p, 515.
Not listed, but referred to under lupus and vulpes respectively.
Vocis etymon a Germ. Sprintz, quod muscetam, genus accipitrum,
significat, deducit Ferrarius. Du Cange s. v. spingarda.
230
251
253
INDEX.
Aspis 45
Aries lO
Cancer''' 23
Capreoli 18
Caput Porci 36
Cattus^ 9, 23, 28
Cervi 38
Chelonium 50
Corax 32
Corvus 29
Cuniculus 52
Equuleus 41
Equus 17
Ericius 37
Grus 33
Locusta"** 24
Lupus 51
*"' Not captions.
Muli 54
Murex 44
Murmillo 43
Musculus 26
Onager 39
Porculus 35
Scorpio 47
Scropha'*' 8
Sucula 35
Sus=^ 24
Talpa^^ 53
Talparii^""* 53
Terebra 29
Testudo 19
Testudo Arietaria 24
Tigris 54
56
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