Annelet (en). A ring projecting forward from the quillion to protect the forefinger when looping it over the guard for more thrust control. This represents an early development in the compound hilt.

Arming Sword (en). This is the correct term for the single-handed cruciform sword otherwise known as the riding sword, though this term has other meanings, or inaccurately as the broadsword.

An arming/riding sword from Arms and Armor showing a typically Irish ring pommel.

Backsword (en). This is a variant on the broadsword. A straight bladed, cage or basket hilted sword with one edge and a thick back. Frequently fullered.

Bastard Sword (en). A sword usable with one hand but more frequently with two. Also known as the langswerd in Germany or by other names. This is primarily a battlefield weapon but saw civilian use as well. See also espada longa.

Bidenhander (g). Long, two handed sword used by elite infantry units, perhaps most notably the landsknechts, to break up formations on the battlefield. Surprisingly light (for their size), these weapons were known by other names, such as zweihander or slagterswerd.

Broadsword (en). A cage or basket hilted weapon with two edges, used from the 17^th century to the 20^th. The most famous example of this is the Scottish basket hilted broadsword but other variants exist from all over Europe. This term is incorrectly used to refer to arming swords. See also schiavona.

Claymore (sg). A Scots gaelic tern that translates as "big sword". The first occurences of the word seem to refer the the scots version of the broadsword (as defined above), but later it was also used to refer to the Scots greatsword. This sword was slightly shorter than the English and continental two handers. It is easily recognisable by its downsloping quillions with quatrefoil ends. Examine the context of the term in deciding which sword is being referred to.

A claymore (greatsword variant) from Armour Class

A claymore (broadsword variant) from Armour Class.

Compound Hilt (en). The elaborate hilts of swords developing from the Renaissance to about 1700. A combination of rings, knucklebows and projecting arms gave much protection to the hand, especially with regard to ricasso fingering with the rapier, but is equally refers to any of the basket hilts.

Cut & Thrust (en). A troublesome term. Some commentators use it to describe any one of the post-medieval cutting swords or sideswords to distinguish them from rapiers but other restrict it to the military swords of the late 1700s such as the spadroon.

Cutlass (en). A short bladed, wide sabre type weapon with or without hand protection. It is most closely associated with naval use.

A cutlass typical of the Napoleonic wars from Albion Armorers

Doppelhander (g). Another term for the bidenhander.

Epée/Epée du combat (fr). The duelling sword. A chevron shaped, edgeless blade descended from the smallsword. This is the direct ancestor of the modern sporting epée.

Espada Longa (it)/Espee du Guerre (fr). Other names for the bastard sword. This weapon came into being as improved armour made shields less critical and two hands on the weapon became more important for increasing power and control to overcome said armour. It was an effective battlefield weapon but saw use in civilian defence and duelling as well.

Estoc (fr). A short-lived weapon. This sword was derived from the bastard sword but had an edgeless square or triangular blade used to bludgeon the opponent and damage his armour while the tip was thrust through gaps.

Falchion (?)/Fawshon (en). A shortish, heavy curved sword. Some of the techniques associated with it may derive from the messer techniques of the 14^thc or earlier. The term saw use from then until at least the 18thc though the details of the blade changed somewhat.

Finger rings (en). Modern ~ annelets

Forte (fr). The region of the blade closest to the hilt. When working blade to blade, contact here on ones own sword gives ones opponent a short lever arm and thus less leverage but allows his blade close to oneself.

Foible (fr)/Feeble (en). The region of the blade closer to the tip (see forte). Contact in this region gives a longer lever arm and more leverage.

Fuller (en). A groove down the blade. Contrary to popular wisdom, its use in European swords has nothing to do with blood flow but serves rather to lighten the blade without sacrificing much strength, using the same engineering principle as the construction I-beam.

Gladius (l). The short, wide blade of the roman legions. Thought to have been used primarily in thrusting from formations.

Gladius Hispaniensis (l). "Spanish sword". Another type of Roman sword copied from the Celts of Spain.

Greatsword (en). English term for the two-hander otherwise known as the bidenhander etc. In some texts the use of the term longsword blends with this sword, so context can be very valuable in interpretation.

Hanger (en). A short saber common in the 1700s. It had a lighter blade than the fawshon. Sometimes termed a hunting sword.

Katzbalger (g). A short, single handed wide bladed slashing sword with a figure eight or s-shaped guard. It was the close combat weapon of the landknecht mercenaries, typically used with a buckler.

Longsword (en)/Langswerd (g)/Espada Longa (it). Alternative terms for the bastard sword.

Migration Era Sword (en, modern term). A word used to describe the Germanic swords of approximately the 10^th and 11^th centuries. Characterised by a short handgrip and small guard. The blade was often optimised for cutting rather than thrusting but not always.

Mortuary Sword (en). A specialised form of backsword. This is characterised by a cage hilt resembling a ribcage. The knucklebow forms the sternum and two ribs arc back from this to subsidiary bows to the left and right. There is also a small but distinctive head motif where the knucklebow meets the pommel. Widely used in the mid to late 1600s, the era of the Civil War. there is a common story that the head represents Charles I and this it is a semi-hidden indication of royalist sentiment but it appears before the war so this must be considered apocryphal.

Palache (fr). A common European military sword of the 1700s. A good thrusting blade with strong profile taper but still capable of cutting.

Pommel/Pummel (en). The heavy assembly at the butt end of the hilt. This served as both a balance and to hold the weapon together. Could also be used as a weapon, as the name suggests.

Quillion (en). The straight or curved arms projecting from the join of the handle and blade. Used to protect the hand as well as apply leverage in a number of binding, disarming and joint locking techniques. Typically two, one each side, projecting in the plane of the blade. One famous claymore has four, the two normal ones and two at right angles to this but this is a highly unusual weapon on many counts.

Rapier (sp). A renaissance civilian thrusting sword. Typically a long bladed (up to 45'' long or more) weapon with a compound hilt and very limited cutting ability. Originally a Spanish weapon called the espada robera (robe sword or dress sword) it changed much in its history, eventually becoming the shorter, lighter smallsword. The term is also used by some writers to discuss the sidesword (di Grassi does this) or even the smallsword or epée by later masters and commentators, context is very important in interpreting this term.

Rapier by Armour Class.

Ricasso (?). The blunt area of the blade closest to the hilt. Swords varied from no ricasso to a foot or so on some two-handers. This allowed the finger to sit forward of the quillions to enhance thrusting in some single-handed swords (esp. the rapier).

Riding Sword (en). A development of the arming sword. Some writers do use the terms interchangeably but it may be more useful to use this to refer to an early form of the sidesword, with a wide blade and a simple compound hilt.

Saber (en). A curved military sword typical of cavalry units through the 18^th to early 20^th centuries. Intended as a cutting sword it could thrust as well. A civilian variant, the almost straight North Italian duelling saber became the modern sport sabre.

Saex (gc). A singly edged, heavy short sword or long knife used by the Saxon peoples of Europe during the "Dark" Ages (early medieval)

Schiavona (it). The Italian broadsword. This features a lighter blade than the Scots basket hilt and has distinctive patterns in the basket. It may have been brought to Italy by Dalmatian mercenaries and then modified.

Sheering sword (en). A term for the military cutting blades of the 18^th and nineteenth centuries similar in use to the cut & thrust in the narrower sense..

Schlaeger (g). A weapon used in German fraternal duelling. It has a blade approximately 36 inches long and is sharpened for the last third. Used to score points by slashing the opponent's head and face. Though less popular than at its height in the late 19^th c. it is still reasonably widely used in Germany and Austria. Unsharpened blades are used by some schools to train rapier techniques, though the weight distribution is different.

Sidesword (en). The cutting and thrusting sword of the early renaissance. Coeval with the rapier, its shorter, wider blade made it more versatile and battle effective but decreased one's effective threat range.

Single Sword (en). Any cutting and thrusting weapon used with one hand, from the high medieval arming sword to the sidesword.

Slagterswerd (g). Term for the bidenhander.

Smallsword (en). Descended from the rapier. This triangular or chevron bladed weapon relied on linear movement and minimum tip movement. A civilian weapon intended for the duel it is also known as the court sword or walking sword.

Spatha (l). Lit. Sword. This was a longer sword than the gladius, more suited to cutting. Popular among cavalry units.

Spada di lato/Spada di filo (it). Lit. Sword of the side or sword of the edge. Italian terms for the sidesword.

Spadroon (en?). A type of sheering sword. Called in French the espee du slodat (soldier's sword).

Zweihander (g). Bidenhander.

Ballock knife/dagger (en): A slashing knife. Frequently either single edged or with a false edge on the back. Characterise by two swellings where the blade meets the grip

Bayonet (en): A knife made for attachment to a rifle & use as a short spear. Early bayonets plugged into the barrel, later models clip underneath. Some were long enough to use as sword in their own right.

Bowie (en): A large utility and weapon knife associated with US southwest. It exhibits a very definite clip point as its identifying characteristic, possibly based on the Navaja . Techniques of use may have been derived from saber techniques.

Dirk (sg)(en): Large single edged Scots knife with one edge exhibiting string profile taper. the term is sometimes used to refer to other heavy knives.

Ear Dagger (en): A development of the rondel dagger. The name derives from the distinctive pommel. It has a groove allowing the thumb to be looped over it in reverse grip.

Main gauche (fr): A knife carried in the left hand as a subsidiary weapon and defense with Renaissance sidesword or rapier.

Messer (g): Long knife popular in Germany in the middle ages. Single edged and could have a clip or a false edge. Used similarly to the much later sabre.

Navaja (sp): Lit. Sevillian knife. A large folding knife with a clipped point

Poignard (fr): Medieval and renaissance dagger with a very sharp point.

Rondel Dagger (en): Medieval dagger, most of them were round or triangular bladed but some may have had a diamond shaped blade with some edge. Name derives from the parallel round disks forming the guard and pommel. Seems to have been used largely, though not exclusively in reverse grip.

Sica (l): Small dagger used in Rome for utility and defense.

Sickle (en): Peasant reaping tool, also used as a weapon. One such, illustrated in Mair's fechtbuch seems to have a modified serrated cutting edge but this seems unusual.

Stiletto (it): Small, narrow bladed thrusting dagger. Possibly descended from the poignard.