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DAGGER

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 729 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DAGGER , a See also:

hand weapon with a See also:short blade. The derivation is obscure (cf. Fr. dague and Ger. Degen), but the word is related to (lag, a See also:long pointed jag such as would be made in deeply nicking the edge of a garment. The See also:war See also:knife in various forms and under many names has of course been in use in all ages and amongst all races. But the dagger as generally understood was not a short See also:sword, but a See also:special stabbing weapon which could be used along with the sword. The distinction is often difficult to establish in a given See also:case owing to the See also:variations in the length of the weapon. The See also:principal See also:medieval dagger was the misericorde, which from the end of the i zth See also:century was used, in all countries in which See also:chivalry flourished, to penetrate the See also:joints of the See also:armour of an unhorsed adversary (hence Ger. Panzerbrecher, armour-breaker). It was so called either because the See also:threat of it caused the vanquished to surrender " at See also:mercy," or from its use in giving what was called the coup de See also:grace. From about 1330 till the end of the succeeding century, in many knightly See also:effigies it is often represented as attached on the right See also:side by a See also:cord or a See also:chain to the sword-See also:belt. This weapon and its sheath were often elaborately adorned.

It was customary to secure it from accidental loss by a guard-chain fastened to the See also:

breast-armour. Occasionally the misericorde was fixed to the See also:body-armour by a See also:staple; or, more rarely, it was connected with a gypcibre or pouch. The misericorde may be called a See also:poniard. The distinction between the dagger and the poniard is arbitrary, and in See also:ordinary See also:language the latter is taken as being the shorter and as having less resemblance to a short sword or See also:cutlass. A weapon, with a longer blade than the misericorde, was habitually worn by civilians, including See also:judges, during the See also:middle ages; such weapons See also:bore the name of anlace (from annulus, as it was fastened by a See also:ring), basilarde or langue de bceuf, the last from the broad ox-See also:tongue shape of the blade. This had often a small knife fixed on the See also:scabbard, like a Highland officer's See also:dirk of the See also:present See also:day. By nobles and knights the dagger or poniard was worn when they had exchanged their armour for the See also:costume of See also:peace. It is recorded besides that when they appeared at a See also:tournament and on some other occasions, ladies at that See also:time wore daggers depending, with their gypcieres, from their girdles. Thus, See also:writing of the See also:year 1348, Knighton speaks of certain ladies who were present at jousts as " habentes cultellos, quos daggerios vulgariter dicunt, in powchiis desuper impositis." A longer and heavier dagger with a broad blade (See also:Italian) is called cinquedea. The Scottish " dirk " was a long dagger, and survives in name in the dirk worn by midshipmen of the royal See also:navy, and in fact in that worn by See also:officers of Highland regiments. In the 15th and 16th centuries the See also:infantry soldiers (Swiss or See also:landsknecht) carried a heavy poniard or dagger, This and the earlier See also:Spanish dagger with a thumb-ring were distinctively the weapons of professional soldiers. The rise of duelling produced another type, called the See also:main gauche, which was a parrying weapon and often had a toothed edge on which the adversary's sword was caught and broken.

One See also:

form of this dagger had a blade which See also:expanded into a triple See also:fork on pressing a See also:spring; this served the same purpose. The satellites of the Vehmgericht had a similar weapon, in See also:order, it is suggested, that their acts should be done in the name of the Trinity. The smaller poniards are generally called " stilettos." Much ingenuity and skill have beenlavished on the adornment of daggers, and in rendering the See also:blades more capable of inflicting severe wounds. Daggers also were sometimes made to See also:poison as well as to See also:wound. Of See also:oriental daggers may be mentioned the See also:Malay " crease" or " kris;" which has a long waxed blade; the See also:Gurkha " kukri," a short curved knife, broadest and heaviest towards the point; and the See also:Hindu " khuttar," which has a See also:flat triangular-shaped blade, and a hilt of H-shape, the See also:cross-See also:bar forming the grip and the sides the guard.

End of Article: DAGGER

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