LSJ s.v.
khlw/neion [sic] I: a device for drawing water. Defined with the Suda's spelling
khlo/neion in ps.-
Zonaras, Gennadius Scholarius'
Grammar, the
Etymologicum Gudianum and the
Etymologicum Magnum. In ps.-
Zonaras: "But
khlo/neion is a crane: Spelled with a short (omicron) and a diphthong (
ei). ... a piece of wood tilting backwards and forwards."
The lexica contrast their
khlo/neion with
khlw/nion "stallion" (Herodian,
Partitions p. 65 Boissonade; ps.-
Zonaras, Gennadius Scholarius, the
Etymologicum Magnum,
kappa 1517) or "burned by the gadfly = sexually excited" (
Etymologicum Gudianum). The word is not attested in that meaning, but both senses are derived from
kh/lwn: LSJ s.v. I "swipe, swing-beam" (as here), LSJ s.v. II "he-ass (
Archilochus), stallion (lexica)" (
kappa 1516).
Even if the "stallion" meaning of
khlw/n[e]ion ever existed, the spelling distinction is probably artificial. Our attested texts use
khlw/neion and
khlw/nion to mean "swing-beam" (in gardening, or sieges):
khlw/nion:
Apollodorus of Damascus,
Poliorcetica p. 162 Wescher; Apollonius,
Homeric Lexicon s.v.
kh=la,
Hesychius s.v.
khlw/nia;
khlw/neion:
Aristophanes fr. 679 Edmonds,
Pollux 7.143,
Hesychius s.v.,
Aristotle,
Mechanica 857a, 857b,
Menander,
Dyscolus 536, Aeneas Tacticus 39.7.