The headword is a biblical lemma, stemming from Joshua 8.29 LXX (Joshua hangs the king of Ai "on a two-pronged timber").
[1] Furca (see phi 628) denotes in Latin two different instruments of punishment: the fork-shaped wood to be placed on the neck of the punished, generally a slave (cf. furcifer) (as by Plautus, Persa 5,2,71, Casina 2,6,37; Cicero, On divination 1.26.55; Livy 2.36.1; etc.); and the gallows, corresponding to Greek di/dumon cu/lon. This meaning is common in juridical sources: see Digest 48.19.28, passim. Most common expressions are furca figere, furcae subicere, in furcam tollere, suspendere or damnare.
[2] Like the following one, this quotation (again at iota 325) stems from an unknown historical source, probably via the Excerpta Constantiniana.
[3] Although the quotation is very short, the participle a)partw=n suggests that it could be the beginning of a sentence; if so, the relative pronoun ou(/s may be used in its well-known function of connection with the information provided in the preceding passage.