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Glaive

A glaive is a polearm Pole weapon

A pole weapon or polearm is a close combat weapon [i] with the main fighting part of the weapon pl ... 

 consisting of a single-edged blade on the end of a pole. It is similar to the Japan Japan

is an island country [i] in East Asia [i]. ... 

ese naginata Naginata

Naginata is a pole weapon [i] that was traditionally used in Japan [i] by members of the samurai [i] cla ... 

. However, instead of having a tang like a sword or naginata, the blade is affixed in a socket-shaft configuration similar to an axe head. Typically, the blade was around 18 inches long, on the end of a pole 6 or 7 feet long. Occasionally glaive blades were created with a small hook on the reverse side to better catch riders. Such blades are called glaive-guisarmes. According to the 1599 treatise Paradoxes of Defense by the English Gentleman George Silver, the glaive is used in the same general manner as the quarterstaff Quarterstaff

A quarterstaff is a medieval [i] English [i] variant of the staff [i] weapon [i] ... 

, half pike, forest bill, halberd Halberd

This article is about the weapon.... 

, or partisan.

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Encyclopedia


A glaive is a polearm Pole weapon

A pole weapon or polearm is a close combat weapon [i] with the main fighting part of the weapon pl ... 

 consisting of a single-edged blade on the end of a pole. It is similar to the Japan Japan

is an island country [i] in East Asia [i]. ... 

ese naginata Naginata

Naginata is a pole weapon [i] that was traditionally used in Japan [i] by members of the samurai [i] cla... 

. However, instead of having a tang like a sword or naginata, the blade is affixed in a socket-shaft configuration similar to an axe head. Typically, the blade was around 18 inches long, on the end of a pole 6 or 7 feet long. Occasionally glaive blades were created with a small hook on the reverse side to better catch riders. Such blades are called glaive-guisarmes.

According to the 1599 treatise Paradoxes of Defense by the English Gentleman George Silver, the glaive is used in the same general manner as the quarterstaff Quarterstaff

A quarterstaff is a medieval [i] English [i] variant of the staff [i] weapon [i]... 

, half pike, forest bill, halberd Halberd

This article is about the weapon.... 

, or partisan. Silver rates this class of polearm Pole weapon

A pole weapon or polearm is a close combat weapon [i] with the main fighting part of the weapon pl ... 

s above all other individual hand-to-hand combat weapons.

Other uses

The word glaive has historically been given to several very different types of weapon.
  • The word glaive originated in French. Almost all etymologists derive it from either the Latin or Celtic word for sword. Nevertheless, all the earliest attestations in both French and English refer to spear Spear

    A spear is an ancient weapon [i] used for hunting [i] and war [i], consisting of a shaft, usually of wood [i] ... 

    s. It is attested in this meaning in English roughly from the 14th century to the 16th.
  • In the 15th century it acquired the meaning described above.
  • Around the same time it also began being used as a poetic word for sword .
  • Starting around the 1980's the word began to describe a fourth type of weapon: a whirling projectile blade similar to a shuriken Shuriken

    Shuriken is a traditional Japanese concealed weapon that was used for throwing, and sometimes stabbing.... 

     but much larger. This fictional weapon is usually portrayed as being able to return to its wielder, much like a boomerang Boomerang

    A boomerang is a simple wood [i]en implement used for various purposes.... 

    . "Glaives" of this type have shown up in several films and other aspects of fantasy fiction, most notably the film Krull in which the weapon had five bladed arms. A Glaive of this type can also be seen in the Blade Trilogy Blade Trilogy

    The Blade Trilogy is a movie [i] trilogy [i] starring Wesley Snipes [i]. ... 

    , as a two-bladed weapon which folds for easy concealment.

Notes