a kind of low flat-built vessel, furnished with one deck, and navigated with sails and oars, particularly in the Mediterranean. By the Greek authors under the eastern empire this kind of vessel was called γαλαξις and γαλάξις, by the Latin authors of the same time galea; and hence, according to some, the modern denomination. Some say it was called galea, because a casque or helmet was carried on the prow, as Ovid attests (de Tristibus). The French call it galère, because it seems the top of the mast is usually cut in the form of a hat, which the Italians call galero. Others derive both galea and galere from a fish called by the Greeks γαλάξις, or ξερός, and by us the sword-fish, which this vessel resembles. Others, again, derive galley, gallica, galere, gallesse, &c., from the Syriac and Chaldee goul, and galin, a man exposed on the water in a vessel of wood.