spear or pilum?

[Paullus Scipio]

Robert wrote:-

Hi Paul,

Thank you for the very detailed reaction. My listing, however, was in the first place not to look at each author for the correct use of the terminology, but to show how terminology changed over time.

....well, I don't think anyone would dispute that - we are looking at a period of over a thousand years in total, so that is hardly surprising.If I may use my modern analogy again, whilst the generic term "gun" has meant 'firearm' throughout its history, words like 'pistol', 'rifle', 'fusil', 'musket','carbine' and so on have changed meaning over time, some several times, and new weapons such as 'revolver' and 'machine gun' have entered the vocabulary.....and that over a shorter time-scale.

IF the writer chooses to inform us with that additional information (‘hasta praelonga’, ‘hasta velitaris’) there is no problem. However, most authors do not see the need to do that, which is where the confusion starts. A simple description like ‘hasta’ thus can mean anything.

.....but that is no different in modern English. If an author says 'spear' without qualification, it is a generic word too. I don't agree that most ancient authors use generic words....it would be truer to say that confusion may arise from a multiplicity of words. There are many greek words for types of spear - any lexicon will throw up a dozen - here's just a few:
dory =Great spear,long thrusting spear derived from 'plank'
kamax = long cavalry spear, derived from 'pole' or 'vine prop'
xyston = long cavalry spear, derived from 'pole' or 'spear shaft'
kontos = long cavalry spear, derived from 'punting pole' or 'barge pole'...but can also mean a boathook

....or for Roman missile weapons, we have, again not an exhaustive list:-

telum =missile weapons
pilum,spiculum=heavy throwing spear
jaculum, verutum=javelin
lancea= light/short dual purpose thrwing/thrusting spear
...not to mention martiobarbuli/plumbatum. :wink: :wink:

Now all of these are quite specific weapon types - but in some cases the name changes over time.

The difficulty occurs when latin is translated into greek and vice versa - there is no latin equivalent of 'sarissa', because Romans didn't use it, nor a greek equivalent of 'pilum' for the same reason, Greeks didn't use it.
Thus sarissa becomes a very long 'hasta'=spear-shaft/shafted weapon - but 'hasta' is not a direct translation of 'dory' (a specific weapon = long thrusting spear, whereas 'hasta' is generic)

[quote]Why do you interpret the ‘kontos’ as “un-mistakablyâ€