falx

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /fælks/, /fɔlks/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Audio (Southern England)

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• 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

• falcial
• falx cerebri
• falx cerebelli

Anagrams

• Flax, flax

Latin

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /falks/, [fäɫ̪ks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /falks/, [fälks]

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).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	falx	falcēs
Genitive	falcis	falcium
Dative	falcī	falcibus
Accusative	falcem	falcēs falcīs
Ablative	falce	falcibus
Vocative	falx	falcēs

Derived terms

• defalco
• falcastrum
• falcatus
• falcifer
• falcīcula

Descendants

• Aragonese: falz
• Aromanian: falcã, falche
• Asturian: foz, fouz, foiz
• Catalan: falç
• Emilian: fèlz
• → English: falx
• Fala: foici
• Friulian: fals
• Italian: falce
• Ladin: fauc
• Lombard: falc, folcc
• Mirandese: fouce
• Neapolitan: falcè
• Old French: fauz
  • French: faux
    • Karipúna Creole French: fos
  • Picard: feuque
  • Walloon: foque (obsolete)
• Old Occitan: fals
  • Occitan: falç, fauç, haus, fâ
• 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
• Venetian: falẑ
• >? Vulgar Latin: falcina
  • → Albanian: felqinë

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “falx”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 3: D–F, page 404
• Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “falx”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 239

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

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin falx.

Noun

falx n (plural falxuri)

1. falx

Declension

Declension of falx

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) falx	falxul	(niște) falxuri	falxurile
genitive/dative	(unui) falx	falxului	(unor) falxuri	falxurilor
vocative	falxule		falxurilor

References

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