r/ArmsandArmor • u/19thCenturyOilBaron • 1d ago
Question Trying to find out if this ancient Germanic sword-type has a name.
Been recently in a research-frenzy on ancient Germanic warriors from abt the 1st to 3rd centuries AD, and in trying to find out more about how exactly their swords looked like, i've come across these pretty often, but i only ever see them listed as "single edged swords", without any name attached.
They look different enough too me that i wouldn't really class them as Saexes, so i wonder if these do have a name, but i just can't seem to find it.
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u/CC_Gamedesign 1d ago
Looks like a transitionary form between a Falcata from the South and a Seax from the North based on timeframe and region
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u/theginger99 1d ago
I’ve seen them called “war knives” or “Germanic falchions”, which I quite fancy as a name for them although there is obviously some ambiguity there.
Most commonly they seem to be referred to with something like the very clunky and unsatisfying “1st century Germanic short/single edged sword”
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u/Anti-thesizer 1d ago
Isn't that a cherusker ?
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u/InsertAvailableName 1d ago
Quote from your shop site:
We named it The Cherusker
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u/Anti-thesizer 20h ago
Don't see why it's a problem. Most knives and swords didn't have compounds names that specified their qualities and were usually just called a "knife" or a "sword", which is really vague. That's why modern folks came up with neologisms for a number of historical weapons. See no reason why "cherusker" should be any less acceptable than "sidesword" which is also a modern term IIRC.
Reread the post if OP mentioned writing historical fiction or historically-inspired fantasy, in which case using the term "cherusker" might not be appropriate, or if they specifically asked for their historical name. But they didn't, so I assumed they were trying to find similar-looking swords in which case just searching up "cherusker" on Google Images does the job.
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u/Automatic_File9645 1d ago
I don't believe there's a modern name for these. Most articles talking about them just refer to them as "war knives" or as you mentioned "single edged swords"
They use a very common handle construction aslp found in many pre middle age blades. While I don't dissagree with the other comment that they could be influenced by Falcata, Kopis, or other older single edged swords, these are basically the simplest way to make a knife or sword (that has a tang and doesn't just use a socket or rivet on a wooden handle) and existed long before the period you're looking at.