Size or Shape
Terms classifying swords as "great", "long", "broad", "bastard", "small", "short" or "two-handed" have different meanings in different contexts and may be ambiguous.
In the Elizabethan context the size of swords from smallest to biggest would be as follows:
- Short-sword (arming sword), backsword --> bastard sword, broadsword (two-handed sword) --> long sword --> two-hander ("great sword" although this is a recently coined term).
In the German context the size of swords from smallest to biggest would be:
- Katzbalger, Degen --> Reitschwert, Schwert (langes Schwert) --> Rappier --> Bidenhänder.
In the French context the size of swords from smallest to biggest would be:
- Épée --> épée batarde (épée de passot), espadon --> longue épée --> épée à deux mains.
In the Italian context the size of swords from smallest to biggest would be:
- Spada --> spada bastarda, spadone --> spada lunga --> spada a due mani.
Read more about this topic: Classification Of Swords
Famous quotes containing the words size and/or shape:
“There are some persons we could not cut down to size without diminishing ourselves as well.”
—Jean Rostand (1894–1977)
“After that it came to my door. Now it lives here.
And of course: it is a soft sound, soft as a seal’s ear,
that was caught between a shape and a shape and then returned to me.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)