Etymograph

English

phalanx

Phalanx may come from Latin phalanx.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEphalanxuncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1827same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEphalanxuncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1827same form

Earliest quotation: 1827, Lydia Sigourney, Poems: “The monarch hath gone, but his rocky throne Still…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- ‘beam, plank’

block, bulk, balcony, fulcrum, balk, 16 more

through Ancient Greek φᾰ́λᾰγξ ‘phalanx, a clustered mass of infantry’

plank, 4 more

Today it means

noun An ancient Greek and Macedonian military unit that consisted of several ranks and files (lines) of soldiers in close array with joined shields and long spears.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin phalanx / phalanx

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