Engineering:Types of swords

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Short description: Bladed weapon
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This is a list of types of swords.

The term sword used here is a narrow definition. This is not a general List of premodern combat weapons and does not include the machete or similar "sword-like" weapons.

African swords

Northern African swords

  • Flyssa (19th century Algeria)
  • Kaskara (19th century Sudan)
  • Khopesh (Egyptian)
  • Mameluke sword (18th to 19th century Egyptian)
  • Nimcha (18th century Morocco and Algeria)

Eastern African swords

Western African swords

Central African swords

Asian swords

Eastern Asian swords

China

Main page: Engineering:Chinese sword

Japan

  • Nihonto (日本刀; にほんとう)
    • Bokken (木剣)
    • Chokutō (直刀)
    • Guntō (軍刀0
      • Kyū guntō (旧軍刀)
      • Shin guntō (新軍刀)
    • Hachiwara (鉢割)
    • Iaitō (居合刀)
    • Jintachi (陣太刀)
    • Katana (刀; かたな)
    • Kenukigata tachi (毛抜型太刀)
    • Kodachi (小太刀)
    • Nagamaki (長巻)
    • Ninjato (忍者刀)
    • Ōdachi/Nodachi (大太刀/野太刀)
    • Sasuga (刺刀)
    • Shinai (竹刀)
    • Shinken (真剣)
    • Shikomizue (仕込み杖)
    • Tachi (太刀; たち)
    • Tantō (短刀; たんとう)
    • Tsurugi (剣)
    • Wakizashi (脇差; わきざし)

Korea

Main page: Engineering:Korean sword
  • Hwandudaedo (환두대도; 环首大刀)
  • Saingeom (사인검)

Southeastern Asian swords

Swords and knives found in Southeast Asia are influenced by Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and European forms.

Indonesia

Myanmar

Philippines

Thailand

Southern Asian swords

Bhutan

  • Patag

Bladed weapons of the Indian subcontinent

Sri Lanka

  • Kastane

Western and Central Asian swords

  • Acinaces (Scythian short sword)
  • Chereb (חֶרֶב, modern Hebrew khérev): ancient Israelite sword mentioned 413 times in the Hebrew Bible.[1]

The Ancient Greeks and Romans also introduced various types of swords, see #Ancient Europe.

Post-classical period

All of the Islamic world during the 16th to 18th century, including the Ottoman Empire and Persia were influenced by the "scimitar" type of single-edged curved sword. Via the Mameluke sword this also gave rise to the European cavalry sabre.

Terms for the "scimitar" curved sword:

  • Kilij (Turkish)
  • Pulwar (Afghanistan)
  • Shamshir (Persia)
  • Talwar (Indo-Pakistani)
  • Yataghan (Turkish)
  • Khanjar (Arabian)
  • Saif (Arabian)
  • Scimitar (Arabian)
  • Zulfiqar (Arabian)

European swords

Ancient European swords

  • Bronze Age European swords
    • Harpe: mentioned almost exclusively in Greek mythology
  • Iron Age European swords
    • Falcata: one-handed single-edged sword – blade 48–60 cm (19–24 in) – with forward-curving blade for slashing
    • Falx: Dacian and Thracian one-handed or two-handed single-edged curved shortsword for slashing
    • Gladius: Roman one-handed double-edged shortsword for thrusting (primary) and slashing, used by legionaries (heavy infantry)[2] and gladiators, and late Roman light infantry. 3rd century BCE Roman Republic – late Roman Empire.
    • Kopis: one-handed single-edged sword – blade 48–60 cm (19–24 in) – with forward-curving blade for slashing
    • Makhaira: Greek one-handed, single-edged shortsword or knife for cutting (primary) and thrusting
    • Pugio: Roman dagger
    • Rhomphaia: Greek single-edged straight or slightly curved broadsword – blade 60–80 cm (24–31 in) – for slashing (primary) and thrusting
    • Spatha: Celtic/Germanic/Roman one-handed double-edged longsword – blade 50–100 cm (20–39 in) – for thrusting and slashing, used by gladiators, cavalry and heavy infantry. 3rd century BCE Gaul/Germania – Migration Period.
    • Xiphos: Greek one-handed, double-edged Iron Age straight shortsword
    • Xyele: The short, slightly curved, one-edged sword of the Spartans.[3]
  • Migration Period swords
    • Spatha: continuation, evolved into
      • Ring-sword (ring-spatha, ring-hilt spatha), Merovingian period
      • Viking sword or Carolingian sword
    • Krefeld type

Post-classical European swords

  • Arming sword: high medieval knightly sword
  • Backsword
  • Baselard
  • Carracks black sword
  • Cinquedea
  • Claymore: late medieval Scottish sword
  • Curtana: a medieval term for a ceremonial sword
  • Estoc: thrust-oriented sword
  • Falchion
  • Flamberge
  • Glaive
  • Hunting sword
  • Longsword: late medieval
  • Messer
  • Misericorde
  • Paramerion: Eastern Roman Byzantine sword
  • Parrying dagger
  • Poignard
  • Rondel dagger
  • Schiavonesca
  • Seax: shortsword, knife or dagger of varying sizes typical of the Germanic peoples of the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages, especially the Saxons, whose name derives from the weapon.
  • Spadroon
  • Stiletto
  • Viking sword or Carolingian sword: early medieval spatha
  • Zweihänder: 1500-1600 Germany

Modern European swords

North American swords

  • U.S. regulation swords (sabres, and in some instances fascine knives shaped like short swords)

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Strong's Hebrew: 2719. חָ֫רֶב (chereb) -- a sword". biblehub.com. https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2719.htm. 
  2. ↑ "Romeinse Rijk §3.1 Landmacht" (in nl). Encarta Encyclopedie Winkler Prins. Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum. 2002. 
  3. ↑ Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Xyele



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