Hilt

The hilt (rarely called the haft) of a sword is its handle, consisting of a guard, grip and pommel. Also meaning To the limit; completely: played the role to the hilt. Idiom: to the hilt. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A ricasso may also be present, but this is rarely the case. A tassel or sword knot may be attached to the guard or pommel.

Pommel

The pommel (Anglo-Norman pomel "little apple") is an enlarged fitting at the top of the handle. They were originally developed to prevent the sword slipping from the hand. From around the 11th century in Europe they became heavy enough to be a counterweight to the blade. This gave the sword a point of balance not too far from the hilt allowing a more fluid fighting style. Depending on sword design and swordsmanship style, the pommel may also be used to strike the opponent (e.g., using the Mordhau technique).

Pommels have appeared in a wide variety of shapes, including oblate spheroids, crescents, disks, wheels, and animal or bird heads. They are often engraved or inlayed with various designs and occasionally gilt and mounted with jewels. Ewart Oakeshott introduced a system of classification of medieval pommel forms in his The Sword in the Age of Chivalry (1964) to stand alongside his blade typology. Oakeshott pommel types are enumerated with capital letters A–Z, with subtypes indicated by numerals.

Sword

A sword is a bladed weapon intended for both cutting and thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration. A sword in the most narrow sense consists of a straight blade with two edges and a hilt, but depending on context, the term is also often used to refer to bladed weapons with a single edge (also referred to as a backsword).

Historically, the sword developed in the Bronze Age, evolving from the dagger; the earliest specimens date to ca. 1600 BC. The later Iron Age sword remained fairly short and without a crossguard. The spatha, as it developed in the Late Roman army, became the predecessor of the European sword of the Middle Ages, at first adopted as the Migration period sword, and only in the High Middle Ages, developed into the classical arming sword with crossguard. The word sword continues the Old English, sweord.

The use of a sword is known as swordsmanship or (in an early modern or modern context) as fencing. In the Early Modern period, western sword design diverged into roughly two forms, the thrusting swords and the sabers:

Sword (band)

Sword is a Canadian heavy metal band that was active in the 1980s and just announced a reunion for 2011.

History

In the early 80's, south of Montreal in Saint Bruno, Quebec, Rick (vocals) and Dan Hughes (drums) formed a heavy metal band called Sword. They were joined by guitarist Mike Plant and bassist Mike Larocque in the first lineup of the band. They signed their first commercial contract in 1984 with Aquarius Records.

Sword released two albums for Aquarius in the late 80s; the debut album Metalized in 1986 and its follow-up Sweet Dreams in 1988. They toured in the support slot for Motörhead and Alice Cooper, and the group was hand-picked to open for Metallica on the 1986 Master of Puppets tour.

After disbanding, Rick Hughes formed Saints & Sinners and released a self-titled album with them.

In 2006, Aquarius Records released The Best of Sword a compilation album, which was in stores on Tuesday, October 31.

Throughout their career, Sword sold in excess of 180,000 albums.

On February 17, 2011 it was announced that Sword had reunited and were rehearsing for live shows to come.

Sword (disambiguation)

A sword is a cutting and/or thrusting weapon.

Sword, Swords, or The Sword may also refer to:

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