sparth

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noun

A battle-axe or halberd.

OriginMiddle English sparthe ← Old Norse sparða →
Scrabble 11
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Meanings

nounsparth (plural sparths)

plural sparths

  1. obsoleteA battle-axe or halberd.

    Sparthe an inſtrument.

    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
    2 more examples

    […]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.

    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

    […]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.

    1633, Edmund Campion, Meredith Hamner, Tvvo Histories of Ireland […] , Dublin: Society of Stationers, archived from the original on 09 Jun 2021, page 66

Origin

  1. Old Norsesparða
  2. Middle Englishsparthe
  3. Englishsparth

From Middle English sparthe, from Old Norse sparða.

More words from Middle English, Old Norse

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

sparth. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sparth

MLA

“sparth.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sparth. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sparth,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sparth.

Source: sparth on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.