Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Dens

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

DENS (ὀδούς). A tooth; whence specially applied to various other objects, which resemble teeth, either in their form, or mode of application; viz.: —

1. The fluke of an anchor (Virg. Aen. vi. 3.), which is generally represented in the works of ancient art as a plain hook without barbs (see the illustration s. ANCORA); but flukes constructed with barbed teeth, such as ordinarily used at the present day, were also adopted by the ancients, as is proved by the annexed example (Dens/1.1), from the device on a Roman imperial coin.

2. The barb of a hunting spear (Grat. Cyneg. 108.), like the spear head shown in the annexed engraving (Dens/2.1), from one of the bas-reliefs representing Trajan's hunting feats, now affixed to the arch of Constantine; for the war spears, both of the Greeks and Romans, had usually a lozenge or leaf-shaped head (see CUSPIS), without barbs.

3. The tooth or prong of the agricultural implement termed ligo; which was a sort of hoe with a curved blade notched in the centre, so as to form two prongs on the outside; whence fracti dente ligonis. (Columell. x. 88.) The example (Dens/3.1) is from an engraved gem.

4. The plough-share; when formed in the simplest or primitive manner out of the branch of a tree, either naturally or artificially bent into a hook as in the annexed example (Dens/4.1), from an Etruscan bronze discovered at Arezzo. A share of this description would rather tear up, or bite the ground, as Varro phrases it (L. L. v. 135. dens, quod eo mordetur terra), than cut through it, like the regular share (vomer), from which it is further distinguished by the epithet uncus (Virg. Georg ii. 406.); the force and meaning of which are characteristically exemplified by the engraving.

5. The tooth of a rake, harrow, or other similar agricultural implements, such as the irpex, occa, rastrum, &c.; like the example (Dens/5.1), found in the Roman catacombs. Lucan. vii. 859. Varro, L. L. v. 136. Festus s. Irpices.

6. The tooth of a saw. (Plin. H. N. xvi. 83. Ovid. Met. viii. 246. perpetuos dentes.) The illustration (Dens/6.1) represents a small hand-saw used by Daedalus, in a marble bas-relief.

7. The tooth of a comb. (Tibull. i. 9. 68. Claud. Nupt. Honor. et Mar. 102.) A small toothed comb, like the one exhibited in the engraving (Dens/7.1), from an original of box-wood found in a Roman tomb, was termed dens densus. Tibull. l. c.

8. The tooth of the three-pronged key supposed to be the clavis Laconica (Tibull. i. 2. 18.), of which a specimen (Dens/8.1) is annexed, from an Egyptian original.

9. The hook of a clasp (Sidon. Carm. ii. 397.); see FIBULA, 2.

10. The cogs of a wheel in machinery (tympanum dentatum). Vitruv. x. 5.

11. Dens curvus Saturni. Poetically, for a pruning-hook. (Virg. Georg. ii. 406.) See FALX.