Migration Period Spear - Terminology

Terminology

The pre-migration term reported by Tacitus is framea, who identifies it as "hasta"; The main native term for "javelin, spear" was Old High German gêr, Old English gâr, Old Norse geirr,gais apparently from Proto-Germanic *gaizo-, although the older form of the English word "spear" (Old English spere) was also used as where its cognates such as the Old Frisian sper and the Old High German speer. Spear in origin also denoted a throwing spear or lance (hasta).

Gaesus (plural: gaesum) was the term for the lance of the Gauls called in Greek γαῖσον. The Celtic word is found e.g. in the name of the Gaesatae. Old Irish has gae "spear". Proto-Germanic *gaizo would derive from PIE *ghai-.