Seax

Seax (Old English pronunciation: [ˈsæɑks]; also sax, sæx, sex; invariant in plural, latinized sachsum) is an Old English word for "knife".^[1] In modern archaeology, the term seax is used specifically for a type of sword or dagger typical of the Germanic peoples of the Migration period and the Early Middle Ages, especially the Saxons, whose name derives from the weapon.^[2]

In heraldry, the seax is a charge consisting of a curved sword with a notched blade, appearing, for example, in the coats of arms of Essex and the former Middlesex,^[3] although a depiction of a straight bladed seax is also possible as in the coat of arms of Eschringen.[1]

Old English seax, sax and Old Frisian sax are identical with Old Saxon and Old High German saks, all from a Common Germanic *sahsą from a root *sah, *sag- "to cut" (also in saw, from a PIE root *sek-). In Scandinavia, the words sax, saks or sakset all refer to scissors, which are used for cutting various materials. The term scramaseax or scramsax (lit. "wounding-knife") is sometimes used for disambiguation, even though it is not attested in Old English, but taken from an occurrence of scramasaxi in Gregory of Tours' History of the Franks.^[4]

The name of the roofer's tool, the zax, is a development from this word.^[5]

Description

Amongst the shape and construction of seaxes there is a great deal of variation. The most frequent characteristics are:

A tang in the centerline of the blade, inserted into an organic hilt (wood, horn)
A large single-edged blade
The blade is worn horizontally inside a scabbard attached to the belt, with the edge of the blade upwards

In the continental Germanic area, the following types are defined for seaxes between roughly 450 and 800 AD, in chronological order:^[6]

Narrow long seax
Short seax
Narrow seax – Often have braided bands or snakes engraved in the blade, and frequently include metal bolsters and pommels. Both the edge and the back are curved towards the tip, which is generally located above the centerline of the blade.
Light broad seax – Similar to narrow seax, but frequently lack metal hilt parts, and have simpler decorations on the blade, such as parallel lines. Both the edge and the back curve towards the tip, which is generally located at the centerline of the blade.
Heavy broad seax – Have simple decorations on the blade if any, and long single-part organic hilts (>20 cm). Both the edge and the back curve towards the tip, which is generally located at the centerline of the blade.
Atypical broad seax – Same as heavy broad seax.
Long seax – Blades are 50 cm/20 in or longer, often with multiple fullers and grooves, pattern welded blades, and long hilts similar to broad seaxes. The edge is generally straight, or curved slightly towards the tip. The back either curves gently, or with a sharp angle towards the tip, which is located below the centerline of the blade.

The general trend, as one moves from the short to the broad seax, is that the blade becomes heavier, longer, broader and thicker. Long seaxes, which arrived at the end of the 7th century, were the longest of the seax. These were narrower and lighter than their predecessors. Initially, these weapons were found in combination with double-edged swords and were probably intended as side arm. From the 7th century onwards, seaxes became the main edged weapon (next to a francisca), sometimes in combination with small side-knives.^[6]

The rest of Europe (except for parts of Scandinavia) followed a similar development, although some types may not be very common depending on location. In England long seaxes appear later than on the continent and finds of long seaxes (as opposed to knives) remain very rare in comparison to finds of swords throughout the period.^[7]^[8]

Another typical form of the seax is the so-called broken-back style seax. These seaxes have a sharp angled transition between the back section of the blade and the point, the latter generally forming 1/3 to 3/5 of the blade length. These seaxes exist both in long seax variety (edge and back parallel) and in smaller blades of various lengths (blade expanding first, then narrowing towards the tip after the kink). They occurred mostly in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with some examples in Germany around 8th-11th century. Some examples have pattern welded blades, while others have inlays of silver, copper, brass, etc.

References

^ Bosworth, Joseph, D.D., F.R.S. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
^ "Saxon". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
^ "Heraldry (S)". Probertencyclopaedia.com. 2006-11-01. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
^ Medieval Sourcebook History of the Franks
^ George Ripley and Charles Anderson Dana (1862). "SLATE". The New American Cyclopaedia: a popular dictionary of general knowledge. New York: D. Appleton and Company. p. 695.
^ ^a ^b Schmit, George Die Alamannen im Zollernalbkreis Archived 2012-02-13 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
^ Underwood, Richard (1999) Anglo-Saxon Weapons and Warfare Stroud, England: Tempus, ISBN 0-7524-1910-2 p70.
^ Gale, David (1989) The Seax in Weapons and Warfare in Anglo-Saxon England Oxford, England: Oxbow ISBN 0-947816-21-6

External links

The Anglo Saxon Broken Back Seax (myArmoury.com article)
Regia Seax
British Museum:Seax of Beagnoth
Andrew Thompson, The Seax (Two Handed?), 3 October 2011, The Thegns of Mercia

[1] Bosworth, Joseph, D.D., F.R.S. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 16 July 2008.

[2] "Saxon". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)

[3] "Heraldry (S)". Probertencyclopaedia.com. 2006-11-01. Retrieved 2010-09-16.

[4] Medieval Sourcebook History of the Franks

[5] George Ripley and Charles Anderson Dana (1862). "SLATE". The New American Cyclopaedia: a popular dictionary of general knowledge. New York: D. Appleton and Company. p. 695.

[Die_Alamannen_im_Zollernalbkreis-6] Schmit, George Die Alamannen im Zollernalbkreis Archived 2012-02-13 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 16 July 2008.

[7] Underwood, Richard (1999) Anglo-Saxon Weapons and Warfare Stroud, England: Tempus, ISBN 0-7524-1910-2 p70.

[8] Gale, David (1989) The Seax in Weapons and Warfare in Anglo-Saxon England Oxford, England: Oxbow ISBN 0-947816-21-6

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

v t e Knives and daggers
List of daggers List of blade materials
Kitchen and table knives	Boning Boti Bread knife Butcher knife Butter knife Caidao Cheese knife Chef's knife Cleaver Electric knife Fillet knife Grapefruit knife Lame Mezzaluna Parmesan knife Pizza cutter Splayd Steak knife Tomato knife Japanese kitchen knives Deba bōchō Maguro bōchō Nakiri bōchō Santoku Sashimi bōchō Udon kiri Unagisaki hōchō Usuba bōchō Yanagi ba
Other knives	Aircrew Survival Egress Knife Athame Balisong/Butterfly Ballistic Ballpoint pen knife Bayonet Boline Bolo Boot knife Bowie Cane knife Ceramic knife Clip point Combat knife Commander Corvo CQC-6 Deba bōchō Diving knife Drop point Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife Gerber Mark II Ginsu Golok Gravity knife Guna Hacking knife Higonokami Hunting knife Husa knife Ivan's Knife Jacob's ladder Karambit Kard Kirpan Kitchen knife Kukri Laguiole knife Machete Mandau Marking knife Misericorde Mora knife Multi-tool Navaja Neck knife Nontron knife Opinel knife Palette knife Pantographic knife Parang Penknife Penny knife Pesh-kabz Pirah Pocketknife Phurba Putty knife Puukko Rampuri Resolza Sabatier Sami knife SARK Scalpel Seax Sgian dubh Sharpfinger Sheath knife Shiv Sliding knife Smatchet SOG Knife Straight razor Strider SMF Survival knife Swiss Army knife Switchblade Taping knife Throwing knife Trench knife Tumi Ulu Utility knife Verlängerungsmesser Warrior knife Wedung X-Acto Yarara Parachute Knife Yatagan
Daggers	Anelace Applegate–Fairbairn fighting knife Arkansas toothpick BC-41 Bagh nakh Balarao Baselard Bichuwa Bollock dagger Cinquedea Dha Dirk Ear dagger Emeici Facón French Nail Gunong Hunting dagger Jambiya Jile Kabutowari Kaiken Kalis Katar Khanjali Khanjar Kris Kunai Liaoning dagger Mark I trench knife Microtech Jagdkommando Parrying dagger Poignard Pugio Push dagger Rondel dagger Seme Shobo Sica Stiletto Tantō U.S. Marine Raider stiletto V-42 Yoroi-dōshi
Manufacturers	Aitor Knife Company Al Mar Knives American Tomahawk Company Aritsugu Benchmade Böker Buck Knives Camillus Cutlery Company Cattaraugus Cutlery Company Chris Reeve Knives Chroma Cnife Clauss Cutlery Company Cobray Company Cold Steel Columbia River Knife & Tool Cuisinart Cutco Dalian Hanwei Metal Dexter-Russell Ek Commando Knife Co. EKA Emerson Knives F. Dick Fällkniven FAMAE Fiskars Gerber Legendary Blades Füritechnics Glock Ges.m.b.H. Imperial Schrade Ivan's Ka-Bar Kershaw Knives KitchenAid Korin Japanese Trading Company Kyocera Leatherman Mad Dog Knives Marble Arms Medford Knife and Tool Microtech Knives Morseth Muela Murphy Knives OLFA Ontario Knife Company Opinel Randall Made Knives Ranz Cuchillos Rösle Sabatier Shun Cutlery Slice, Inc. SOG Specialty Knives Spyderco STI Knives Strider Knives Thiers Issard TOPS Knives Tramontina Victorinox W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co. Carl Walther GmbH Wenger Western Knife Company Wilkinson Sword Wüsthof Yoshida Metal Industry Global Zero Tolerance Knives Zwilling J. A. Henckels
Knifemakers	Rex Applegate James Black Tom Brown Jr. Blackie Collins John Nelson Cooper Jack W. Crain Ernest Emerson Jerry Fisk Bill Harsey Jr. Phill Hartsfield Gil Hibben Jimmy Lile Bob Loveless William F. Moran Ken Onion Ralph Osterhout Bo Randall Chris Reeve A. G. Russell Jody Samson William Scagel Mike Snody Robert Terzuola Michael Walker Buster Warenski Daniel Winkler
Associations	American Bladesmith Society Cutlery and Allied Trades Research Association Knifemakers' Guild
Category:Knives / Daggers

Description

See also

References

External links