Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Sarissa
/səˈrɪsə/noun
The pike of the Macedonian phalanx, up to six metres long and gripped in both hands.
The Greek roots
σάρισα
sárisa
Macedonian pike
Literally: “the long pike”
Follow a root:σάρισα1 word
The story of the word
Philip II armed his infantry with it in the 350s BC, and the reach it bought settled Chaeronea and everything Alexander did afterwards. The shaft was cornel wood in two lengths joined by a bronze sleeve, with a butt spike heavy enough to balance the head and to finish a man on the ground. The word itself has no accepted etymology and may be Macedonian rather than Greek proper.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
In a sentence
Five ranks of sarissas projected past the front line, which is why nothing could reach it.