English

Noun

scytale ‎(plural scytales)

A scytale

1. A cylinder with a strip of parchment wound around it on which a message is written, used for cryptography in ancient times.

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σκυτάλη ‎(skutálē, “baton”).

Noun

scytale f ‎(genitive scytales); first declension

1. A cylinder with a strip of parchment wound around it on which a message is written, used for cryptography in ancient times.
2. A kind of snake

Inflection

First declension, Greek type.

References

• scytale in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• scytale in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin