Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

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Forfex

dim. Forficŭla (ψαλίς, dim. ψαλίδιον). Shears (Serv. in Verg. Aen. viii. 453), used

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1.

in shearing sheep, as represented in the annexed illus

Forfex, shears. (From a gem.)

tration, which is taken from a carnelian in the Stosch collection of antique gems at Berlin;

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2.

in cutting hair (Schol. in Eurip. Orest. 954);

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3.

in clipping hedges, myrtles, and other shrubs (ψαλιστοὶ μυρρινῶνες, Hierocles, ap. Serm. 65, p. 415).

In military manœuvres the forfex was a body of troops arranged in the form of a V, so as to receive and overcome the opposite body, called a cuneus (Gell. x. 9).

In architecture the term ψαλίς denoted a construction which was probably the origin of the arch, consisting of two stones leaning against each other so as to form an acute angle overhead, as is seen in the ruins of Tiryns. See p. 117.