Swords

A sword is a long edged weapon, used by various civilizations throughout Eurasia and North Africa. more...

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The word sword comes from the Old English sweord, which cognates to Old High German Schwert, literally "wounding tool" from a Proto-Indo-European root *swer- "to wound, to hurt".

A sword fundamentally consists of a blade, usually with two edges for striking and cutting, a point for thrusting, and a hilt for gripping. The basic intent and physics of swordsmanship remained fairly constant down the centuries, but the actual techniques varied among cultures and periods as a result of the differences in blade design and purpose. The names given to many swords in mythology, literature, and history reflect the high prestige of the weapon (see list of swords).

History

Bronze Age

Humans have manufactured and used bladed weapons from the Bronze Age onwards. The sword developed from the dagger when the construction of longer blades became possible, from the early 2nd millennium BC. Swords longer than 3 feet were rare and not practical during the Bronze Age as this length exceeds the tensile strength of bronze. It was not until the development of stronger alloys such as steel that longswords became practical for combat.

The hilt at first simply allowed a firm grip, and prevented the hand from slipping onto the blade when executing a thrust. Bronze Age swords with typical leaf-shaped blades first appear near the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and in Mesopotamia. Swords from the Nordic Bronze Age from ca. 1400 BC show characteristic spiral patterns. Sword production in China is attested from the Bronze Age Shang Dynasty.

Iron Age

Iron swords became increasingly common from the 13th century BC. The Hittites, the Mycenaean Greeks, and the Proto-Celtic Hallstatt culture figured among the early users of iron swords. Iron has the advantage of mass-production due to the wider availability of the raw material. Early iron swords were not comparable to later steel blades; being soft and malleable, they were even inferior to good bronze weapons, but the easier production, and the better availability of the raw material for the first time permitted the equipment of entire armies with metal weapons, though Bronze Age Egyptian armies were fully equipped with bronze weapons.

Eventually smiths learned that by adding an amount of carbon (added during smelting in the form of charcoal) in the iron, they could produce an improved alloy (now known as steel). Several different methods of swordmaking existed in ancient times, including, most famously, pattern welding. Over time, different methods developed all over the world.

Read more at Wikipedia.org