1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Phalanx

PHALANX (Gr. φάλαγξ, of unknown origin), the name, in Greek history of the arrangement of heavy-armed infantry in a single close mass of spearmen (see Army: History). In anatomy, the Latin plural phalanges is the term applied to the bones of the finger and toe, and in botany to a group of united stamen clusters. The term “phalanx” was adopted by F. C. M. Fourier (q.v.) as the name of the socialistic community living in a “phalanstery.”