Glaive blades

A glaive is a polearm consisting of a single-edged blade on the end of a pole. It is similar to the Japanese naginata. However, instead of having a tang like a sword or naginata, the blade is affixed in a socket-shaft configuration similar to an axe head. Typically, the blade was around 18 inches (55 cm) long, on the end of a pole 6 or 7 feet (180-210 cm) long. Occasionally glaive blades were created with a small hook on the reverse side to better catch riders. Such blades are called glaive-guisarmes. The Medieval Swedish infantry weapon svärdstav indeed was a double-edged sword affixed to a staff on its tang.^{[citation needed]} Krull is a 1983 heroic fantasy film directed by Peter Yates and produced by Ron Silverman. ... Image File history File links http://hea-www. ... Image File history File links http://hea-www. ... A pole weapon or polearm is a close combat weapon with the main fighting part of the weapon placed on the end of a long shaft, typically of wood. ... A blade is the flat part of a tool or weapon that normally has a cutting edge and/or pointed end typically made of a metal, most recently, steel intentionally used to cut, stab, slice, throw, thrust, or strike an animate or inainimate object. ... A samurai wielding a naginata Naginata (なぎなた, 長刀 or 薙刀) is a pole weapon that was traditionally used in Japan by members of the samurai class. ... A protrusion of the blade of a tool, such as a chisel or knife, onto which the handle is fastened. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ...

According to the 1599 treatise Paradoxes of Defense by the English gentleman George Silver, the glaive is used in the same general manner as the quarterstaff, half pike, forest bill, halberd, or partisan. Silver rates this class of polearms above all other individual hand-to-hand combat weapons. George Silver was a gentleman of England during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, who is known for his writings on fencing. ... Quarterstaffs in use, from Old English Sports, Pastimes and Customs, published 1891 A quarterstaff is a medieval English variant of the staff weapon, consisting of a shaft of hardwood, sometimes with metal-reinforced tips. ... The half-pike is a short version of the regular Medieval pike used by sailors for close combat on ships. ... This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ... A partisan (also partizan) is a type of polearm that was used in Europe during medieval times. ... A pole weapon or polearm is a close combat weapon with the main fighting part of the weapon placed on the end of a long shaft, typically of wood. ...

Other uses

The word glaive has historically been given to several very different types of weapon.

• The word glaive originated in French. Almost all etymologists derive it from either the Latin (gladius) or Celtic (*cladivos, cf. claymore) word for sword. Nevertheless, all the earliest attestations in both French and English refer to spears.^[1] It is attested in this meaning in English roughly from the 14th century to the 16th.^[2]
• In the 15th century it acquired the meaning described above.^[3]
• Around the same time it also began being used as a poetic word for sword (this is the main use of the word in Modern French).^[4]

For other uses, see Claymore (disambiguation). ... Hunting spear and knife, from Mesa Verde National Park. ...

Notes

1. ^ OED s.v. Glaive: "Hatz-Darm. regard OF. glaive as an adapted form of L. gladius (through the stages gladie, glaie, glavie). Ascoli supposes it to represent a Celtic *cladivo- (OIr. claideb sword, Gael. claidheamh). Neither view, however, accounts for the earliest meaning of the word in OF., which is also that of MHG. glavîe, glævîn, MDu. glavie, glaye, Sw. glaven."
2. ^ OED s.v., section 1, lists examples in this meaning from 1297—1592.
3. ^ OED s.v., section 2, lists examples in this meaning from ca. 1450—1678.
4. ^ OED s.v., section 3, lists examples in this meaning from ca. 1470—1887.