σκυτάλη: Difference between revisions

|mdlsjtxt=σκῠτά˘λη, ἡ,<br /><b class="num">I.</b> a [[staff]], [[cudgel]], [[club]], Anth.<br /><b class="num">II.</b> at [[Sparta]], a [[staff]] or baton, used as a cypher for [[writing]] dispatches:—a [[strip]] of [[leather]] was rolled slantwise [[round]] it, on [[which]] the dispatches were written lengthwise, so that [[when]] unrolled they were [[unintelligible]]: commanders [[abroad]] had a [[staff]] of like [[thickness]], [[round]] [[which]] they rolled these papers, and so were [[able]] to [[read]] the dispatches:—[[hence]] [[σκυτάλη]] came to [[mean]] a Spartan dispatch, Thuc., Xen.; and [[generally]] a [[message]], Pind. [deriv. uncertain]