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<blockquote data-quote="gizmo33" data-source="post: 2127810" data-attributes="member: 30001">Lars Porsenna's account above is what I've seen in several different sources. &nbsp;The Summary:sword, arming sword, warsword (and I think longsword=warsword) are terms from the medieval period. I think two-handed (German - zweihander) and flamberge are also historical.bastard sword and broadsword (really refers to a cavalry saber?) are collectors terms from later eras.&nbsp;But that only accounts for the original uses of the terms. With DnD, I think sword names took on a life of their own, and came to mean something to gamers based on a sort of &quot;logic&quot;. Gamers noticed that there were different types of swords, those of later eras seem to evolve more of a point, I guess eventually leading to the rapier and epee - leading to speculation that these must be &quot;longswords&quot;. I guess it wasn't just gamers, I have a vague recollection of hearing the term &quot;broadsword&quot; used to refer to a medieval-style sword, to emphasize the width of the blade. I don't recall reading anything from Gygax about his exact use of the terms, and it's possible that he just adapted stuff in common use in the wargaming community when the PHB was written (although you can glean a few facts about size, weight, and other names from the weapon chart). &nbsp;At this point I'm happy with using the standard DnD definitions of sword types; other gamers know what I'm talking about. But if you're talking to weapon historians, or doing research, being aware of how the terms were used originally (or at least recognize that your terminology might not be theirs) can help avoid confusion.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="gizmo33, post: 2127810, member: 30001"] Lars Porsenna's account above is what I've seen in several different sources. The Summary: sword, arming sword, warsword (and I think longsword=warsword) are terms from the medieval period. I think two-handed (German - zweihander) and flamberge are also historical. bastard sword and broadsword (really refers to a cavalry saber?) are collectors terms from later eras. But that only accounts for the original uses of the terms. With DnD, I think sword names took on a life of their own, and came to mean something to gamers based on a sort of "logic". Gamers noticed that there were different types of swords, those of later eras seem to evolve more of a point, I guess eventually leading to the rapier and epee - leading to speculation that these must be "longswords". I guess it wasn't just gamers, I have a vague recollection of hearing the term "broadsword" used to refer to a medieval-style sword, to emphasize the width of the blade. I don't recall reading anything from Gygax about his exact use of the terms, and it's possible that he just adapted stuff in common use in the wargaming community when the PHB was written (although you can glean a few facts about size, weight, and other names from the weapon chart). At this point I'm happy with using the standard DnD definitions of sword types; other gamers know what I'm talking about. But if you're talking to weapon historians, or doing research, being aware of how the terms were used originally (or at least recognize that your terminology might not be theirs) can help avoid confusion. [/QUOTE]

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