Sword
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Sword. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a weapon of offense consisting of a blade fitted into a hilt or handle , with a guard, the blade being formed to cut or to pierce, generally to do both. It 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 12 13 1-Turkish 2-Mycean 3-Egyptian 4-Bronze Age 5-Greek (Ancient) 6-Roman 7-Persian SWORDS 7 8-15th Century 9-16th Century 10-Old Scotch 14 11-Two handed Sword, 15th Century 12-Rapier 13-Rapier 14-Scotch Claymore is the most highly honored of all weapons, a symbol of military dignity and authority; and it is the instrument with which the monarch confers knightly honors. Its forms and modifications, and the names under which, in different shapes, it has been known in different lands and in successive ages, are beyond computation. It is sufficient to say that the general term includes weapons so diverse as the short cutting and piercing daggers and poignards and the ponderous two-handed swords of the 15th century. The blade may thus vary in length from a few inches to four feet and upward. It may be furnished with a cutting edge on one side only, or on both sides. It may be uniform in breadth throughout with truncated end, a or it may taper from the hilt to a fine point. The blade, moreover, may have a piercing point alone, as in the rapier, and it may be curved through-ginal maker of Ferrara blades was is not out its entire length, as in the Oriental scimitar. The hilt, with its many forms of guard, grip, and pommel, similarly adds to the variations of the weapon. The sword, of course, could not be a weapon of primitive man; but it is easy to trace its development from the forms of weapon in use in the stone and early bronze ages. The sword came into use only when men had attained considerable skill in casting and working bronze, and the ancient bronze swords, many of which have been found throughout Europe with two-edged blades measuring 2 feet in length, are well finished weapons. The early Greek sword was merely a strong two-edged knife; but about 400 B. c. its form was improved and its size doubled by Iphicrates. The gladius of the Romans was still of the same form-a straight two-edged blade, heavier and longer, however, than the Greek weapon. During the early Middle Ages there does not appear to have been much development in the form of the sword in Europe. As shown by the Bayeux Tapestry and other contemporary illustrations, it continued to be a short cutting weapon, with a blade of uniform breadth bluntly pointed, and to give it balance it was channeled from the hilt for about two-thirds of its length. The cross guard, subsequently called the quillons, was short, projecting at right angles from the blade, but sometimes bent forward in the direction of the point. With the introduction of the twohanded sword, the use of a shield being no longer possible, the guard gradually became more complicated, so as to give greater protection to the hands of the swordsman, and from the use of shell guards and and ring guards, ards, etc., the basket hilt, as applied to lighter swords, by degrees developed. The ordinary basket hilt sword, such as is worn by officers of Highland regiments at the present day, is of Italian origin, and grew out of the Venetian schiavone. The rapiera piercing weapon only, with a blade tapering to a fine point-came into use in the early part of the 16th century, and in the 17th century it became the weapon of fencing and dueling. From very early times, Toledo, Seville, and some other Spanish towns had a high reputation for the excellence of the swords made by their armorers, and when to their own skill was added the perfect craftsmanship of their Moorish conquerors the renown of Spanish blades became supreme. In the North Italian towns also, as well as at Solingen and Passau in Germany, swords of famous quality were fabricate fabricated . Who the oriknown, but in the 16th century there was a family of armorers named Ferrara in North Italy, one member of which, called Andrea, was born in 1555. In modern warfare the sword posseses little more than an honorary military significance.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
sord, a well known weapon of warfare. It may be defined as a sharp blade of metal, having a hilt at one end, and designed to be used by a swinging motion of the whole arm. As to antiquity, it is believed that the making of swords was one of the first uses to which metals were put. The Assyrians, Greeks, and Gauls were known to have made both straight and leaf-shaped swords of bronze before the art of tempering steel was discovered. The Roman legionary carried a stout, two-edged sword of steel. Some of these swords were made for striking only; others for both cutting and thrusting; but none appear to have provided the grasping hand with an adequate defense. The crosspiece, the basket, and the gauntlet appear to be medieval additions. The swords of Damascus and Toledo were noted for quality. A Damascene or Toledo blade could be sprung until the point touched the hilt without breaking. Many swords have special names, as the rapier, a long, slender dueling sword, and the broadsword, a heavy blade for a downright stroke. Various peoples had swords of special form or name. The Scottish claymore was carried by the Highlandman; the curved scimitar by the Saracen. The Turk invented the yataghan; the Frenchman, the sword bayonet. The Malay used to sharpen his sword on one side only, giving it a chisel edge. Down to a late date, the wearing of a sword was the mark of a gentlemen. It is now confined to military circles. Men in the navy carry cutlasses, or short, heavy-backed swords useful at close range. Cavalrymen carry sabres. The machete (ma-sha'ta), a short, strong sword, practically a heavy knife, is popular in Central American countries. Its use shades off from that of a sword into a corn knife. It is well nigh a case of a sword beaten into a pruning hook, for the Cuban cuts cane with it and the Nicaraguan cuts off his bunches of bananas with a machete.