Lewis & Short

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† dactylus, i, m., = δάκτυλος (a finger, hence meton.).

  1. I. A sort of muscle: "ab humanorum unguium similitudine appellati," Plin. 9, 61, 87, § 184.
  2. II. A kind of grape, Col. 3, 2, 1; called also dacty-lis, Plin. 14, 3, 4, § 40.
  3. III. A sort of grass, Plin. 24, 19, 119, § 182.
  4. IV. A precious stone, Plin. 37, 10, 61, § 170.
  5. V. The date, Pall. Oct. 12, 1; Apic. 1, 1 al.
  6. VI. In metre, a dactyl, –⏑⏑ (in allusion to the three joints of the finger), Cic. Or. 64, 217; id. de Or. 3, 47, 182; Quint. 9, 4, 81 et saep.
  7. VII. Dactyli Idaei, Δάκτυλοι Ἰδαῖοι, a mythic body of men originally placed on Mt. Ida, in Phrygia, afterwards in the island of Crete; priests of Cybele, and as such regarded as identical with the Corybantes, and with the Samothracian Cabiri, Diom. p. 474 P.; Plin. 7, 56, 57, § 197 (in pure Lat., Idaei Digiti, Cic. N. D. 3, 16, 42).