The

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...

lance A lance is a spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier (lancer). In ancient and medieval warfare, it evolved into the leading weapon in cavalry charges, and was unsuited for throwing or for repeated thrusting, unlike s ...

, together with the bow, the sword, the

seax ''Seax'' (; also sax, sæx, sex; invariant in plural, latinized ''sachsum'') is an Old English word for "knife". In modern archaeology, the term ''seax'' is used specifically for a type of small sword, knife or dagger typical of the Germanic p ...

and the shield, was the main equipment of the Germanic warriors during the Migration Period and the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

Terminology

The pre-migration term reported by

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

is ''framea'', who identifies it as '' hasta''; the native term for ' javelin, spear' was

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

''gêr'',

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

''gâr'',

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

''geirr'', from

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...

''*gaizaz''. The names

Genseric Gaiseric ( – 25 January 477), also known as Geiseric or Genseric ( la, Gaisericus, Geisericus; reconstructed Vandalic: ) was King of the Vandals and Alans (428–477), ruling a kingdom he established, and was one of the key players in the di ...

, Radagaisus indicate Gothic language, Gothic *''gais''. Latin ''gaesum'', ''gaesus'', Greek was the term for the lance of the Gauls. The Avestan language has ''gaêçu'' 'lance bearer' as a likely cognate. The Celtic word is found e.g. in the name of the Gaesatae. Old Irish has ''gae'' 'spear'. Proto-Germanic ''*gaizaz'' would derive from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European ''*ghaisos'', although loan from Celtic has also been considered, in which case the PIE form would be ''*gaisos''. The ''Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch'' has ''*g'haisos'' (with a palatal velar aspirate), discounting the Avestan form in favour of (tentatively) comparing Sanskrit ' 'projectile'. The form ''gaois'' is read in an early Runic inscriptions, runic inscription on the so-called Mos spearhead, dated to the 3rd century, found in Stenkyrka, Gotland. The etymon of English ''spear'', from Proto-Germanic wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/speru, ''*speru'' (Old English ''spere'', Old Frisian ''sper'', Old High German ''sper'', Old Norse ''spjör''),spear
at etymonline.com in origin also denoted a throwing spear or lance (''hasta'').

Ger

The word ''kêr'' or ''gêr'' is attested since the 8th century (Lay of Hildebrand 37, Heliand 3089). ''Gar'' and cognates is a frequent element in Germanic names, both male and female. The term survives into New High German as ''Ger'' or ''Gehr'' (Grimm 1854) with a generalized meaning of 'gusset' besides 'spear'. In contemporary German, the word is used exclusively in antiquated or poetic context, and a feminine ''Gehre'' is used in the sense of 'gusset'.

Framea

(''Germania (book), Germania'' 6) describes the equipment of the Germanic warrior as follows:

Even iron is not plentiful with them, as we infer from the character of their weapons. But few use swords or long lances. They carry a spear ['' hasta''] (''framea'' is their name for it), with a narrow and short head, but so sharp and easy to wield that the same weapon serves, according to circumstances, for close or distant conflict. As for the horse-soldier, he is satisfied with a shield and spear; the foot-soldiers also scatter showers of missiles each man having several and hurling them to an immense distance, and being naked or lightly clad with a little cloak.

The term is also used by Eucherius of Lyon, Gregory of Tours and Isidore of Seville, Isidore. By the time of Isidore (7th century), ''framea'' referred to a sword, not a

. Since Tacitus reports that the word is natively Germanic, various Germanic etymologies of a Proto-Germanic ''*framja'', ''*framjō'' or similar have been suggested, but remain speculative. Must (1958) suggests ''*þramja'', cognate to

''þremjar'' 'edges, sword blades', Old Saxon ''thrumi'' 'point of a spear'. The word reappears on the title page of the 15th-century witch-finding book ''Malleus Maleficarum'': "MALLEUS MALEFICARUM, Maleficas, & earum hæresim, ut ''phramea'' potentissima conterens." ("The Hammer of Witches, which destroys witches and their heresy as with a very mighty sword.") Icelandic, the modern language as well as the language of the Sagas, has the word ''frami'' 'distinction, renown, fame'. This word was in earlier times strongly connected with warfare, but its use as a name of a weapon is not known.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Migration Period spear Spears Throwing spears Ancient weapons, Spear Germanic weapons, Spear

Terminology

Ger

Framea

See also

References

Further reading

External links