KEY, an instrument for the opening of locks. Molinus, in his treatise of keys, De clavibus veterum, printed at Upsal, derives the Latin name clavis from the Greek κλavis, clavo, I shut, or from the adverb clam, privately; and adds, that the use of keys is yet unknown in some parts of Sweden. The invention of keys is due to one Theodore of Samos, according to Pliny and Polydore Virgil; but this must be a mistake, as the use of keys was known be-
fore the siege of Troy, whilst mention is even made of them in the nineteenth chapter of Genesis. Molinus is of opinion that keys at first served only for untying certain knots wherewith they anciently secured their doors; but the Laconic keys, he maintains, were nearly akin in use to our own, consisting of three single teeth, and made in the figure of an E; a form of which there are still some to be seen in the cabinets of the curious. There was another key called βαλανιγχα, made in the manner of a male screw, which had its corresponding female in a bolt affixed to the door. Key has hence become a general name for several things serving to shut up or close others.