account given by Pliny to be very erroneous; and adds, that the plant ſuppoſed to be the δρακόντιον is three feet high[1]; which agrees with the deſcription given by Diofcorides, ſuppoſing the cubit to be a foot and a half, but not with Pliny's account.
Again, Mr. Barré ſays, that the Greeks employed two different meaſures, or palms, in eſtimating the foot and the cubit; the ſmaller called παλαιϛὴ, and the larger σπιθαμή. The former of theſe he defines to be the breadth[2] of the four fingers, laid cloſe to one another; and the latter to be the breadth of the four fingers, with the addition of that of the thumb, in what he calls its natural Rate; which he explains to be when it appears a little ſeparated from the fingers, as it always is when the hand is opened.
His definition of the former of theſe meaſures is juſt[3], but not ſo of the latter. The σπιθαμὴ is the ſpan[4], not meaſured from the fingers lying cloſe together, but from the thumb to the little finger, when both are extended. Indeed this is what the word itſelf denotes, being derived from σπίζω, which both Euſtathius[5] and the Scholiaſt on Ariſtophanes interpret to be of the ſame meaning with ἐκτείνω.
- ↑ Cauſem erigit tripedalem. Theophrait.p. 836.
- ↑ La palette eſt compoſée de quatre doigts de la main joints les uns contre les autres, auquels en ajoutant le pouce dans ſon état naturel, c'eſt-à-dire un peu écarté d'eux, comme il eſt toujours quand la main eſt ouverte, on ala ſpithame. Vol. xix. p. 522.
- ↑ Τῶν δὲ μέτρων ἐϛὶ μέντοι ϗ̀ δάκτυλος, δοχμὴ δὲ συγκλεισθέντες οἱ τέσσαρες δάκυλοι. jul. Poll. lib.ifi. ſsect. 157.
Παρὰ τὸ πέλας συνάγειν τὰ οϛὰ, id eſt, πλησίον ποιεῖν τοὺς δακτύλους. Etymolog.
- ↑ Εἰ δὲ τοὺς δακτύλους ἀποτείνας, ἀπὸ τοῦ μεγάλου πρὸς τ̀ μικρότατον μετρεῖς, σπιθαμὴ τὸ μέτρον. Jul. Polluc. lib. ii. ſect. 157.
Τὸ μέτρον τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ μεγάλου δακτύλου ἐπὶ τὸν μικρὸν διάϛημα. Heſych. vox σπιθαμή
- ↑ Steph. Thefaur. Graec. Vox σπίζω.
