Javelin
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Javelin. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
jav'lin, a short, light spear thrown from the hand. It consisted of a metal point fixed at the end of a wooden shaft or handle. A strap was sometimes attached to aid in flinging the weapon with force and accuracy. It is an ancient weapon. Saul, it will be remembered, strove to smite David to the wall with a javelin. The pilum which was thrown by Caesar's soldiers, and which caused the attacking Gauls so much inconvenience by pinning their overlapping shields together, was a weapon of this sort. The javelin was a favorite weapon of the Persian horseman and may well be regarded as the forerunner of the knight's lance. In the Middle Ages the javelin or boar spear was the trusty weapon of the hunt. To be advised, thou know'st not what it is With javelin's point a churlish swine to gore. --Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about other peoples, religions, or nationalities that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) a light ponr thrown the hand, formerly used by horse and spear thrown by foot in ancient warfare their ancestors survives in the sed by horse a . Also a hunting spear, Islamism that is now practiced. A few tribes, Also a huntin about 5½ feet long, having a wooden shaft and an iron however, profess the old long, having head. It is yet used religion (viz., the Baduwis in Bantam and the " an iron head. It in Europe in hunting the boar, and by many Heathen" of the Tengger Mountains). The in hunting the boa savage nations in ordinary hunting. native Christians number about 12,000 vage nations in ordinar , and the Chinese Christians a few hundred. The inhabitants