LANCE, LANCEA, a spear; an offensive weapon worn by the ancient cavaliers, in form of a half pike. The lance consisted of three parts, the shaft or handle, the wings, and the dart. Pliny attributes the invention of lances to the Ætolians. But Varro and Aulus
Gellius say, the word lance is Spanish; whence others conclude the use of this weapon was borrowed by the people of Italy from the Spaniards. Diodorus Siculus derives it from the Gaulish, and Festus from the Greek λαγνα, which signifies the same.