sparth

See also: sparð

English

Etymology

From Middle English sparthe, from Old Norse sparða.

Noun

sparth (plural sparths)

1. (obsolete) A battle-axe or halberd.
   • 1530 July 18, Iohan Palſgrave, “The Introduction”, in Leſclarciſſement de la langue francoyſe […] ‎, London: Richard Pynſon, Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, page 66; reprinted as Lesclarcissement de la langue françoyse, Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1972:

     Sparthe an inſtrument.

   • 1587, Raphaell Holinshed, Iohn Hooker, “The Second Book of the Conqueſt of Ireland”, in The firſt and ſecond volumes of Chronicles […] , volume II, London: Henry Denham, page 33:

     […] betweene whom was a cruell fight, the one part giuing a fierce onſet with ſtones and ſpaths^[sic], & the other defending themſelues with bowes and weapons.

   • 1633, Edmund Campion, Meredith Hamner, Tvvo Histories of Ireland […] ‎, Dublin: Society of Stationers, archived from the original on 9 June 2021, page 66:

     […] how that the Englſshmen not being able to ſtand in fight, turned backe to backe, with ſparthes and two handed swords, untill the laſt man was ſlaine.

References

• “sparth”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “sparth”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “sparth”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• thraps

Middle English

FWOTD – 5 December 2022

Noun

sparth

1. alternative form of sparthe