COC´LEAR
COC´LEAR (
cocleare,
coclearium,
coclearum ;
κοχλιάριον, or better
λίστριον [Phryn. 293; Pollux, 6.87, 10.89],
κοχλιώρυχον) was a kind of spoon, the bowl of
which was usually round, while the handle was narrow and pointed. (The
ligula, on the contrary, more nearly
resembled our spoons.) The pointed end was used for drawing snails (
cocleae) out of their shells, and eating them,
whence it derived its name; and the broader part for eating eggs,
&c. Martial (
14.121) mentions both
these uses of the
coclear,--“Sum cochleis
habilis nec sum minus utilis ovis.” (Compare
Plin. Nat. 28.19; Petron. 33.) In the
accompanying illustration we give
coclearia
found at Pompeii (
Mus. Borbon. x. pl. xlvi.;
Antiq. du
Bosphore Cimmérien, pl. 30.5; Schmidt,
Antiq.
d'Avenches, pl. xxiv.).
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Coclearia, spoons. (Museo Borbonico.)
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Coclear was also the name given to a small measure like our
spoonful. According to Rhemnius Fannius, it was 1/24 of the cyathus. (Cf.
Isid.
Orig. 16.26, 3.)
[
W.S] [
J.H.F]
