03-26-2012, 09:05 AM
I have argued for a very long time that at least the earlier furcae were simply a forked stick. The word furca means fork. They had a perfectly good word for cross, and several words for "pole" or "stick". Why, if the object was to be called a furca, would they make it look like a crux?
Now the hitch. Forked sticks with a straight pole are not dreadfully uncommon, but they are not on every tree, either. In the US, we have a pest tree called a "Chinaberry", which has many forks. I have a furca made from one of them. Interestingly, when you cut a Chinaberry branch, in a few days it turns red. The bark is smooth and needs little sanding.
Melia azedarach
http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00240/chinab.htm
Now the hitch. Forked sticks with a straight pole are not dreadfully uncommon, but they are not on every tree, either. In the US, we have a pest tree called a "Chinaberry", which has many forks. I have a furca made from one of them. Interestingly, when you cut a Chinaberry branch, in a few days it turns red. The bark is smooth and needs little sanding.
Melia azedarach
http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00240/chinab.htm
M. Demetrius Abicio
(David Wills)
Saepe veritas est dura.
(David Wills)
Saepe veritas est dura.
