σκυτάλη: Difference between revisions

|Definition=[ᾰ], ἡ,<br><span class="bld">A</span> [[staff]], [[cudgel]], [[club]], D.S.3.8; <b class="b3">σ. ἀγριέλαιος</b>, of Heracles' [[club]], AP9.237 (Eryc.); cf. [[σκύταλον]]:—Special usages:<br><span class="bld">1</span> at Sparta, [[staff]] or [[baton]], used as a cypher for writing dispatches, a strip of leather being 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 strips, and so were able to read the dispatches:—hence [[σκυτάλη]] came to mean [[a Spartan dispatch]], Th.1.131, X.''HG''3.3.8, Ar.''Lys.''991, Plu.''Lys.''19, Gell.17.9.15; and, generally, [[dispatch]], [[message]], as Pi. calls the bearer of his ode σκυτάλα Μοισᾶν ''O.''6.91, where the Sch. quotes <b class="b3">ἀχνυμένη σκυτάλη</b> (dub. sens.) from Archil. (''Fr.''89.2); <b class="b3">ἡ σκυτάλης περιτροπή</b>, of labour in vain (cf. [[ὕπερος]]), Pl.''Tht.''209d.<br><span class="bld">2</span> [[pole]] or [[staff]], like those of a sedan-chair, [[LXX]] ''Ex.''30.4.<br><span class="bld">3</span> [[strickle for levelling grain]] piled up in a measure, σ. δικαία ''PTeb.''823.15, ''PAmh.''2.43.10 (both ii B.C.), cf. Poll.4.170.<br><span class="bld">4</span> [[wooden tally]] or [[ticket]] on a money-bag, etc., Diosc.Hist.4, D.S.13.106.<br><span class="bld">5</span> [[strip]] or [[rod of metal]] or [[ivory]], κασσιτέρου ''Inscr.Délos'' 442 ''B''170 (ii B.C.); [[ἐλέφαντος]] ibid.; cf. Hld.9.15.<br><span class="bld">6</span> [[scourge whip]], Moer.p.346P.<br><span class="bld">7</span> [[handle]] or [[lever]] in a machine, Orib.49.3.3; [[handspike]] for turning a wheel, Ph.''Bel.''68.6, 85.2, Hero ''Bel.''86.12 (pl.).<br><span class="bld">II</span> [[sucker]] from a stem, ''Gp.''9.11.4, al.<br><span class="bld">III</span> [[cylinder]] or [[roller]] wherewith weights are moved, Arist.''Mech.''852a16, cf. ''CPHerm.'' 95.16 (iii A.D.).<br><span class="bld">IV</span> a [[serpent]], of uniform roundness and thickness, Nic.''Th.''384, Sor. ap. Philum.''Ven.''27.3 (for Plu.''Crass.''32 v. [[Σκύλλα]]).<br><span class="bld">2</span> a [[fish]] of like shape, Opp.''H.''1.184.<br><span class="bld">V</span> [[finger-bone]], [[phalanx]], Paul.Aeg.6.43, Tz.''H.''9.126.