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Cutlass
A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket-shaped guard. It was a former common naval weapon during the former Age of Sail and currently use by explorers.
The word "cutlass" developed from the 17th-century English use of coutelas, a 16th-century French word for a machete-like mid-length single-edged blade (the modern French for "knife", in general, is couteau; in 17th- and 18th-century English the word was often spelled "cuttoe"). The French word coutelas may be a convergent development from a Latin root, along with the Italian coltellaccio or cortelazo, meaning "large knife". In Italy, the cortelazo was a similar short, broad-bladed sabre popular during the 16th century. The root coltello, for "knife", derived ultimately from the Latin cultellus meaning "smaller knife", which is the common Latin root for both the Italian and French words.
In the English-speaking Caribbean, the word "cutlass" is also used as a word for machete.
The cutlass is a 17th-century descendant of the edged short sword, exemplified by the medieval falchion.
Woodsmen and soldiers in the 17th and 18th centuries used a similar short and broad backsword called a hanger, or in German a Messer, meaning "knife". Often occurring with the full tang (i.e. slab tang) more typical of daggers than swords in Europe, these blades may ultimately derive through the falchion (facon, falcon, fauchard) from the falx or seax.[citation needed]
In England, about 1685 the rather long straight-bladed sword formerly in use began to be superseded by the "hanger". This weapon had a short and more or less curved single-edged blade with a brass hilt of a rather flat double-shell and knuckle-bow. The grip was generally of wood, bound with wire, but some specimens show a brass grip with spiral grooves. These are probably early models. The length of the blade is usually about 24 inches (61 cm).
Although also used on land, the cutlass is best known as the sailor's preferred weapon, as it was robust enough to hack or cut through heavy ropes, thick canvas, and dense vegetation while being short enough to be used in relatively close quarters combat, such as during boarding actions, in the rigging, or below decks. Another advantage to the cutlass was its simplicity of use, as it required less training than that required to master a rapier or small sword.
Cutlasses are famous for being used by pirates, although there is no reason to believe that Caribbean buccaneers invented them, as has occasionally been claimed. However, the subsequent use of cutlasses by pirates is well documented in contemporary sources, notably by the pirate crews of William Fly, William Kidd, and Stede Bonnet. French historian Alexandre Exquemelin reports the buccaneer François l'Ollonais using a cutlass as early as 1667. Pirates used these weapons for intimidation as much as for combat, often needing no more than to grip their hilts to induce a crew to surrender, or beating captives with the flat of the blade to force their compliance or responsiveness to interrogation.
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Cutlass
A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket-shaped guard. It was a former common naval weapon during the former Age of Sail and currently use by explorers.
The word "cutlass" developed from the 17th-century English use of coutelas, a 16th-century French word for a machete-like mid-length single-edged blade (the modern French for "knife", in general, is couteau; in 17th- and 18th-century English the word was often spelled "cuttoe"). The French word coutelas may be a convergent development from a Latin root, along with the Italian coltellaccio or cortelazo, meaning "large knife". In Italy, the cortelazo was a similar short, broad-bladed sabre popular during the 16th century. The root coltello, for "knife", derived ultimately from the Latin cultellus meaning "smaller knife", which is the common Latin root for both the Italian and French words.
In the English-speaking Caribbean, the word "cutlass" is also used as a word for machete.
The cutlass is a 17th-century descendant of the edged short sword, exemplified by the medieval falchion.
Woodsmen and soldiers in the 17th and 18th centuries used a similar short and broad backsword called a hanger, or in German a Messer, meaning "knife". Often occurring with the full tang (i.e. slab tang) more typical of daggers than swords in Europe, these blades may ultimately derive through the falchion (facon, falcon, fauchard) from the falx or seax.[citation needed]
In England, about 1685 the rather long straight-bladed sword formerly in use began to be superseded by the "hanger". This weapon had a short and more or less curved single-edged blade with a brass hilt of a rather flat double-shell and knuckle-bow. The grip was generally of wood, bound with wire, but some specimens show a brass grip with spiral grooves. These are probably early models. The length of the blade is usually about 24 inches (61 cm).
Although also used on land, the cutlass is best known as the sailor's preferred weapon, as it was robust enough to hack or cut through heavy ropes, thick canvas, and dense vegetation while being short enough to be used in relatively close quarters combat, such as during boarding actions, in the rigging, or below decks. Another advantage to the cutlass was its simplicity of use, as it required less training than that required to master a rapier or small sword.
Cutlasses are famous for being used by pirates, although there is no reason to believe that Caribbean buccaneers invented them, as has occasionally been claimed. However, the subsequent use of cutlasses by pirates is well documented in contemporary sources, notably by the pirate crews of William Fly, William Kidd, and Stede Bonnet. French historian Alexandre Exquemelin reports the buccaneer François l'Ollonais using a cutlass as early as 1667. Pirates used these weapons for intimidation as much as for combat, often needing no more than to grip their hilts to induce a crew to surrender, or beating captives with the flat of the blade to force their compliance or responsiveness to interrogation.