RAPIER
This article appears in Volume V22, Page 909 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: PYR-RAY
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RAPIER , the name given to two distinct types of sword . Originally the " rapier " (Fr. rapiere) was a long two-edged and pointed weapon with a wide cup hilt, used together with the dagger in fencing and duelling chiefly as a thrusting weapon, the cut taking a secondary position. This was the typical duelling sword of the 16th and 17th centuries. In the 18th century the " small-sword " took its place ; this was a pointed weapon only, the " cut " having entirely dropped out, and the dagger being discarded. The word rapier is of doubtful origin. Du Cange (Glossarium, s. v. " Rapparia ") quotes an example of the word used as an adjective to qualify espee as early as 1474, and gives as a conjectural derivation Gr. pairlEely=Lat. caedere, to cut. Skeat See Also: - SKEAT, WALTER
WILLIAM See Also: - WILLIAM
- WILLIAM (1143-1214)
- WILLIAM (1227-1256)
- WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
- WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
- WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
- WILLIAM, 13TH
(1835– ) (Etym. Did., 1910) follows the suggestion of Diez that rapiere is from raspiere, a rasper or poker, and was a name given in contempt by the old cut-and-thrust fencers to the new weapon. Spanish has raspadera, a raker, and there are several 16th and 17th century quotations alluding to the con-tempt with which the rapier was greeted, and to its Spanish origin (see FENCING and SWORD).
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