Atgeir

Common card · No. 318427

An atgeir was a type of polearm in use in Viking Age Scandinavia and Norse colonies in the British Isles and Iceland. The word atgeirr is older than the Viking Age, and cognates can be found in Old English and other Germanic dialects (atiger, setgare, aizger), deriving from the Germanic root gar, and is related to the Old Norse geirr, meaning spear. Atgeirr is often translated in English as "halberd", however Germanic weapon names in gar designate a heavy spear, while geirr is just a common name for any spear in Old Norse, thus the atgeirr is "a weapon closely related to a spear – something long-shafted and thrust-oriented". The word at prefixed to the weapon's name is used in poetry for "collision, clash, fight", thus "In this context, we can understand the word atgeirr as denoting a 'battle spear' – as opposed to a light javelin or a hunting spear, it underlines the man-killing character of the weapon...". The atgeir is most famously found in three Old Norse sagas: Brennu-Njáls Saga,...

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