Sword

A sword (from Old English sweord; akin to Old High German swerd lit. "wounding tool", from the Proto-Indo-European *swer- "to wound, to hurt") is a long edged bladed weapon, consisting in its most fundamental design of a blade, usually with two edges for striking and cutting, and a point for thrusting, and a hilt. The basic intent and physics of swordsmanship remain fairly constant, but the actual techniques vary between cultures and periods as a result of the differences in blade design and purpose. The names given to many swords in mythology, literature, and history reflect the high prestige of the weapon (see list of swords).

Typology

see also list of swords.

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Swords can fall into categories of varying scope. The main distinguishing characteristics include blade shape (cross-section, tapering and length), shape and size of hilt and pommel, age and place of origin.

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For any other type then listed below, and even for other uses then as a weapon,

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see the article Sword-like object

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Double-edged swords

As noted above, the terms longsword, broad sword and great sword (and Gaelic claymore) are used relative to the era under consideration and do themselves designate a particular type of sword.

Related Topics:
Longsword - Broad sword - Great sword - Claymore

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Single-handed

• Bronze Age swords, length ca. 60 cm, leaf shaped blade.
• Iron Age swords like the Xiphos, Gladius and Jian ?, similar in shape to their Bronze Age predecessors.
• Spatha, measuring ca. 80–90 cm, in use ca. 100–1100.
• the classical Knightly sword of the Crusades, measuring up to ca. 110 cm.
• The late medieval Swiss baselard and the Renaissance Cinquedea essentially re-introduce the functionality of the Spatha.
• light duelling swords, like the rapier and the smallsword, in use from Early Modern times

Two-handed

• the bastard-sword, the "long sword" of the 14th and 15th centuries
• the 16th century Zweihänder

Single edged weapons

One strict definition of a sword restricts it to a double-edged weapon used for both slashing and stabbing. However, general usage of the term remains inconsistent and it has important cultural overtones, so that commentators almost universally recognize the single-edged Asian weapons (d?o ?, Katana ?) as "swords", simply because they have very similar prestige to the prestige attached to the European sword.

Related Topics:
D?o - Katana

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Europeans also frequently refer to their own single-edged weapons as swords -- generically backswords, including sabers. Other terms include falchion, scimitar, dussack, Grosse Messer, cutlass, or mortuary sword. Many of these essentially refer to identical weapons, and the different names may relate to their use in different countries at different times.

Related Topics:
Backswords - Saber - Falchion - Scimitar - Dussack - Grosse Messer - Cutlass - Mortuary sword

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A machete as a tool resembles such a single-edged sword and serves to cut through thick vegetation, and indeed many of the terms listed above describe weapons that originated as farmers' tools used on the battlefield.

Related Topics:
Machete - Tool

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Training swords

Mostly wooden training swords were created to practice fencing without a dangerous sword. In Japanese Kendo and Kenjutsu, such Shinais or Bokken are used in competition fights and for bruising deadly enemies. Similarly, the European schools of swordsmanship employed wooden wasters for drilling and sparring. The Fechtfedern of 16th century Germany were blunt and flexible training swords made of steel, probably by grinding down sword blades that were too damaged for repair.

Related Topics:
Japanese - Kendo - Kenjutsu - Shinai - Bokken - European - Swordsmanship - Wasters - Sparring - Fechtfeder

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Classification

Jan Petersen in De Norske Vikingsverd ("The Norwegian Viking Swords", 1919) introduced the most widely-used classification. Ewart Oakeshott in The Sword in The Age of Chivalry (1964, revised 1981) introduced a system of classification for medieval sword blades into types, numbered X – XXII as a continuation of Wheeler's system.

Related Topics:
Jan Petersen - 1919 - Ewart Oakeshott - 1964

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