Trident

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Trident

A trident , also called a leister or gig, is a three-pronged

Tine (structural)

Tines or prongs are parallel or branching spikes forming parts of various tools and natural objects. They may be used to spear, hook, move or otherwise act on other objects....
spear

Spear

A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a sharpened head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be of another material fastened to the shaft, such as obsidian, iron or bronze....
. It is used for spear fishing and was formerly also a military weapon. Tridents feature widely in mythical, historical and modern culture.

Note a trident is not a pitchfork

Pitchfork

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Encyclopedia

A trident , also called a leister or gig, is a three-pronged

Tine (structural)

Tines or prongs are parallel or branching spikes forming parts of various tools and natural objects. They may be used to spear, hook, move or otherwise act on other objects....
spear

Spear

Pitchfork

A pitchfork is an agricultural tool with a long handle and long, thin, widely separated pointed tines used to lift and pitch loose material, such as hay, leaf, grapes, dung or other agricultural materials....
. A pitchfork is an agricultural tool with two to six tines (also called prongs) which are shaped in such a way that they can be used to lift and pitch (throw) loose material.

The word "trident" comes from the French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
trident, which in turn comes from the Latin tridens or tridentis: tri "three" and dentes "teeth". Several Indian languages use a similar word for "trident", trishula
Trishula

A Trishula is a type of traditional Indian trident, usually a Hindu religious symbol. The trishula symbolism is polyvalent and rich. The trishula may also be mounted on a danda or staff....
, derived from Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
, meaning "triple spear".

Biology

A number of structures in the biological world are described as trident in appearance. Since at least the late 19th century the trident shape was applied to certain botanical shapes; for example, certain orchid flora were described as having trident-tipped lips in early botanical

Botany

Botany, plant science, phytology, or plant biology is a branch of biology and is the Scientific method of plant life and development....
works. Furthermore, in current botanical literature, certain bracts are stated to have a trident-shape (e.g. Douglas-fir

Douglas-fir

Douglas-fir is the English name applied in common to evergreen Pinophyta trees of the genus Pseudotsuga in the family Pinaceae. There are five species, two in western North America, one in Mexico, and two in eastern Asia....
).

Fishing

Tridents for fishing usually have barbed tines

Tine (structural)

Tines or prongs are parallel or branching spikes forming parts of various tools and natural objects. They may be used to spear, hook, move or otherwise act on other objects....
which trap the speared fish firmly. In the Southern

Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States....
and Midwestern United States

Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four geographic regions within the United States of America that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau....
, gigging
Gigging

Gigging, not to be confused with jigging, is an Southern United States and Midwestern United States practice of hunting Catostomidae, flounder or frogs with a Trident, or similar multi-pronged spear....
is used for harvesting suckers

Catostomidae

Catostomidae is the sucker family of the order Cypriniformes. There are 80 species in this family of freshwater fish. Catostomidae are found in North America, east central China, and eastern Siberia....
, bullfrog

Bullfrog

The American Bullfrog is an aquatic frog, a member of the family Ranidae, or "true frogs", native to much of North America. This is a frog of larger, permanent water bodies, swamps, ponds, lakes, where it is usually found along the water's edge ....
s, flounder

Flounder

Flounder are flatfish that live in ocean waters ie., Northern Atlantic and waters along the east coast of the United States and Canada, and the Pacific Ocean, as well....
, and many species of rough fish

Rough fish

Rough fish is a term used by U.S. state agencies and Angling to describe less desirable fish within a region or country. The term usually refers to fish that are not commonly eaten, not sought after for sporting reasons, or have become an invasive species that reduce the populations of desirable fish....
.

Military use

As a weapon, the trident was prized for its long reach and ability to trap other long-weapons between prongs to disarm their wielder. In Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, in a parody of fishing, tridents were famously used by a type of gladiator

Gladiator

A Gladiator was a slave, criminal or professional fighter in ancient Rome. Gladiators fought other gladiators, wild animals and condemned criminals, sometimes to the death, for the entertainment of Spectator sport in cities and towns of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, from the 3rd century BCE to the 5th century CE....
called a retiarius

Retiarius

A retiarius was a Ancient Rome gladiator who fought with equipment styled on that of a fisherman: a net casting , a three-pointed trident , and a dagger ....
or "net fighter". The retiarius was traditionally pitted against a secutor

Secutor

A Secutor was a class of gladiator in ancient Rome.Thought to have originated around 50 AD, the Secutor was armed similarly to the Murmillo gladiator, usually with a short sword, a gladius, or a dagger....
, and cast a net

Cast net

A cast net, also called a throw net, is a Fishing net used for fishing. It is a circular Fishing net with small Fishing sinker distributed around its edge....
to wrap his adversary and then used the trident to kill him.

Symbolic use

Parallel to its fishing origins, the trident is associated with Poseidon

Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
, the god

God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
of the sea in Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, the Roman god Neptune

Neptune (mythology)

Neptune is the Water deity in Roman mythology, a brother of Jupiter and Pluto . He is analogous with but not identical to the god Poseidon of Greek mythology.....
, and Shiva

Shiva

Shiva: is a major Hinduism god, and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the supreme God. In the Smarta tradition, he is one of panchadeva....
, a Hindu god. In Greek myth, Poseidon used his trident to create water sources in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
and the horse

Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
(by striking a camel). Poseidon, as well as being god of the sea, was also known as the "Earth Shaker" when he struck the earth in anger he caused mighty earthquakes and he used his trident to stir up tidal waves, tsunamis and sea storms. In Roman myth, Neptune also used a trident to create new bodies of water and cause earthquakes. A good example can be seen in Gian Bernini

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini was a pre-eminent Baroque sculpture and architect of 17th Century Rome....
's Neptune and Triton
Neptune and Triton (Bernini)

Neptune and Triton is an early sculpture by the 17th century Italy sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini. It is housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum of London dated c 1620-22, carved from marble it stands 182 cm in height....
.

A trident has also references as:

The Coat of arms of Ukraine
Coat of arms of Ukraine

The Coat of Arms of Ukraine features the same colours found on the Flag of Ukraine: a blue shield with yellow trident, called tryzub ....
(Tryzub) - the symbol of ancient Slavic tribes that once lived in Ukraine
Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
.
The National emblem
National emblem

A national emblem national symbols represents a nation. Most national emblems originate in the natural world, such as animals or birds, but another object may serve....
of the Flag of Barbados
Flag of Barbados

The national flag of Barbados was officially adopted on 30 November 1966, the island's first Independence Day. It consists of a triband of two bands of ultramarine separated by a golden middle band....
The US Navy Special Warfare insignia, worn by members of the US Navy SEALs, contains a trident representing the three aspects (Sea, Air, and Land) of SEAL special operations.
The golden colored crest
Crest (heraldry)

A crest is a component of an heraldry display, so called because it stands on top of a helmet, as the crest of a jay stands on the bird's head....
of the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is an undergraduate college in Annapolis, Maryland, United States, that educates and commissions officers of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps....
depicts a trident running vertically in its background.
The symbol of the Swedish Coastal Rangers, Kustjägarna
Kustjägarna

Kustj?garna / Coastal Rangers is located in Haninge Municipality at Swedish Amphibious Corps and is a Sweden Swedish Armed Forces unit. The unit is mainly focused on intelligence gathering, sabotage and in some cases amphibious landings....
Adopted by the Russian anti-Soviet revolutionary organization NTS
National Alliance of Russian Solidarists

The National Alliance of Russian Solidarists , known by its Russian abbreviation "NTS" is a Russian patriotic anticommunist organization founded in 1930 by a group of young Russian anticommunist White emigres in Belgrade, Serbia ....
as the "forks of the people's anger".
The trident or Trishula
Trishula

A Trishula is a type of traditional Indian trident, usually a Hindu religious symbol. The trishula symbolism is polyvalent and rich. The trishula may also be mounted on a danda or staff....
is the missile weapon of the Hindu god Shiva
Shiva

Shiva: is a major Hinduism god, and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the supreme God. In the Smarta tradition, he is one of panchadeva....
, and it often includes a crossed stabiliser to facilitate its flight when thrown.
Since before the Victorian era, Britannia
Britannia

Britannia was the term originally used by the Roman Empire to refer to the island of Great Britain. The term was later used to describe a Roman province covering much of the island, apart from the area beyond the Antonine Wall belonging to the Picts in the north, which was known as Caledonia....
, the personification of Great Britain, has been depicted wielding a trident, symbolising Britain's naval power.

Trident

Biology

Fishing

Military use

Symbolic use

See also