10-22-2010, 08:38 PM
Sorry !.....I think we are at cross-purposes here. I was just trying to get across that the Romans ( and others) had very specific names for particular weapons, as well as generic terms, just as we do. Thus 'rifle' and 'Garand'- or 'AK47'; so 'telum' and 'pilum' or 'lancea'.
Telum incidently has two meanings, its original generic one ;armament,offensive arms, offensive weapon, spear ( as opposed to defensive arms = arma)....probably from a time when the spear was THE offensive weapon. Later it came to mean 'missile weapons' generally, - javelin, arrow, spear, bolt, dart - and is used in the sense of "when the weapons began to fly"......
As with most words in any language, the meaning evolved over time...Vegetius records that the 'pilum' later became known as the 'spiculum' ( and was known as the 'bebrae', and 'angon' by barbarians. As finds show, 'pila' could vary quite a lot!
I think you'll find we are in agreement....you certainly can't decide what type of spear a find is in general, because as I mentioned earlier, there was considerable variation in individual 'spearheads'....
The best clue, frustratingly seldom given, is the socket diameter ( but watch out for tapered weapons! ) which can often allow one to distinguish between, say, javelinheads and spearheads.....
Telum incidently has two meanings, its original generic one ;armament,offensive arms, offensive weapon, spear ( as opposed to defensive arms = arma)....probably from a time when the spear was THE offensive weapon. Later it came to mean 'missile weapons' generally, - javelin, arrow, spear, bolt, dart - and is used in the sense of "when the weapons began to fly"......
As with most words in any language, the meaning evolved over time...Vegetius records that the 'pilum' later became known as the 'spiculum' ( and was known as the 'bebrae', and 'angon' by barbarians. As finds show, 'pila' could vary quite a lot!
I think you'll find we are in agreement....you certainly can't decide what type of spear a find is in general, because as I mentioned earlier, there was considerable variation in individual 'spearheads'....
The best clue, frustratingly seldom given, is the socket diameter ( but watch out for tapered weapons! ) which can often allow one to distinguish between, say, javelinheads and spearheads.....
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
