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Latin artemōn (foresail)


artemon (plural artemons)

  1. (historical) A square foresail on a Roman oared ship.
    • 1980, Richard W. Unger, The Ship in the Medieval Economy 600-1600, page 34
      A small square sail, an artemon, was slung under the bow to act as a headsail.




From Ancient Greek ἀρτέμων (artémōn)



artemōn m (genitive artemōnis); third declension

  1. topsail, foresail, bysail
    • Dig. 50, 16, 242, pr. Iavolenus libro secundo ex posterioribus Labeonis
      Malum navis esse partem, artemonem autem non esse Labeo ait, quia pleraeque naves sine malo inutiles essent, ideoque pars navis habetur: artemo autem magis adiectamento quam pars navis est.
      A mast is a part of the ship but not a foresail, says Labeo, because most ships are useless without mast, and therefore it is deemed as a part of the ship: whereas a foresail is more of an add-on than a part of the ship.
    • Vulg. Actus Apostolorum 27, 40
      Et cum anchoras sustulissent, committebant se mari, simul laxantes juncturas gubernaculorum: et levato artemone secundum aurae flatum, tendebant ad littus.
      And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoised up the by-sail to the wind, and made toward shore.
  2. main block in a pulley system
    • c. 15 BCE, Vitruvius, De architectura 10.2.8–10:
      Est autem aliud genus machinae satis artificiosum et ad usum celeritatis expeditum, sed in eo dare operam non possunt nisi periti. Est enim tignum, quod erigitur et distenditur retinaculis quadrifariam. Sub retinaculo chelonia duo figuntur, troclea funibus supra chelonia religatur, sub troclea regula longa circiter pedes duos, lata digitos sex, crassa quattuor supponitur. Trocleae ternos ordines orbiculorum in latitudine habentes conlocantur. Ita tres ductarii funes in machina religantur. Deinde referuntur ad imam trocleam et traiciuntur ex interiore parte per eius orbiculos summos. Deinde referuntur ad superiorem trocleam et traiciuntur ab exteriore parte in interiorem per orbiculos imos.
      Cum descenderint ad imum, ex interiore parte et per secundos orbiculos traducuntur in extremum et referuntur in summum ad orbiculos secundos; traiecti redeunt ad imum et per imum referuntur ad caput; traiecti per summos redeunt ad machinam imam. In radice autem machinae conlocatur tertia troclea; eam autem Graeci epagonta nostri artemonem appellant. Ea troclea religatur ad trocleae radicem habens orbiculos tres, per quos traiecti funes traduntur hominibus ad ducendum. Ita tres ordines hominum ducentes sine ergata celeriter onus ad summum perducunt.
      Hoc genus machinae polyspaston appellatur, quod multis orbiculorum circuitionibus et facilitatem summam praestat et celeritatem. Una autem statutio tigni hanc habet utilitatem, quod ante quantum velit et dextra ac sinistra a latere proclinando onus deponere potest.
      Harum machinationum omnium, quae supra sunt scriptae, rationes non modo ad has res, sed etiam ad onerandas et exonerandas naves sunt paratae, aliae erectae, aliae planae in carchesîs versatilibus conlocatae. Non minus sine tignorum erectionibus in plano etiam eadem ratione et temperatis funibus et trocleis subductiones navium efficiuntur.
      There is also another kind of machine, ingenious enough and easy to use with speed, but only experts can work with it. It consists of a single timber, which is set up and held in place by stays on four sides. Two cheeks are nailed on below the stays, a block is fastened by ropes above the cheeks, and a straight piece of wood about two feet long, six digits wide, and four digits thick, is put under the block. The blocks used have each three rows of sheaves side by side. Hence three traction ropes are fastened at the top of the machine. Then they are brought to the block at the bottom, and passed from the inside round the sheaves that are nearest the top of it. Then they are brought back to the upper block, and passed inwards from outside round the sheaves nearest the bottom.
      On coming down to the block at the bottom, they are carried round its second row of sheaves from the inside to the outside, and brought back to the second row at the top, passing round it and returning to the bottom; then from the bottom they are carried to the summit, where they pass round the highest row of sheaves, and then return to the bottom of the machine. At the foot of the machine a third block is attached. The Greeks call it ἑπἁγων, but our people “artemon.” This block fastened at the foot of the machine has three sheaves in it, round which the ropes are passed and then delivered to men to pull. Thus, three rows of men, pulling without a capstan, can quickly raise the load to the top.
      This kind of machine is called a polyspast, because of the many revolving sheaves to which its dexterity and despatch are due. There is also this advantage in the erection of only a single timber, that by previously inclining it to the right or left as much as one wishes, the load can be set down at one side.
      All these kinds of machinery described above are, in their principles, suited not only to the purposes mentioned, but also to the loading and unloading of ships, some kinds being set upright, and others placed horizontally on revolving platforms. On the same principle, ships can be hauled ashore by means of arrangements of ropes and blocks used on the ground, without setting up timbers.


Third-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative artemōn artemōnēs
Genitive artemōnis artemōnum
Dative artemōnī artemōnibus
Accusative artemōnem artemōnēs
Ablative artemōne artemōnibus
Vocative artemōn artemōnēs