03-02-2010, 11:08 PM
You are all crazy! 
AFAIK, the term falcata' is never used as a noun in ancient sources, either for the Iberian (NOTCeltiberian) short, curved sword, nor for any other Mediterranean type. It is only used as an adjective (as in 'falcatus ensis', Virg. Aen. 7,732).
The closest we do have to an ancient description of the Iberian 'falcata' sword comes from Seneca (De Benef. 5, 24,2) who mentions an anecdote of C.I. Caesar, where the weapon is named a machaera Hispana (i.e., the latinized version of gr. machaira, used both for kitchen cutlasses, sacrificial knives and curved swords of a superficially similar tyoe to the falcata).
The earliest attested use (so far) of 'falcata' as a noun in (modern) Spanish language is by the Spanish scholar J. A. Cean Bermúdez, in Sumario de las Antigüedades romanas [sic] que hay en España, published in 1832. But the term was not common until 1872 when it was spread by the work of Fulgosio. E
AFAIK, the term falcata' is never used as a noun in ancient sources, either for the Iberian (NOTCeltiberian) short, curved sword, nor for any other Mediterranean type. It is only used as an adjective (as in 'falcatus ensis', Virg. Aen. 7,732).
The closest we do have to an ancient description of the Iberian 'falcata' sword comes from Seneca (De Benef. 5, 24,2) who mentions an anecdote of C.I. Caesar, where the weapon is named a machaera Hispana (i.e., the latinized version of gr. machaira, used both for kitchen cutlasses, sacrificial knives and curved swords of a superficially similar tyoe to the falcata).
The earliest attested use (so far) of 'falcata' as a noun in (modern) Spanish language is by the Spanish scholar J. A. Cean Bermúdez, in Sumario de las Antigüedades romanas [sic] que hay en España, published in 1832. But the term was not common until 1872 when it was spread by the work of Fulgosio. E
