flamberge

English

Alternative forms

• flamberg

Etymology

From French.

Noun

flamberge (plural flamberges)

1. (weaponry) A European sword, typically a greatsword, which had a wavy blade, possibly to increase the cutting surface or for aid in parrying.

   Synonym: flame-bladed sword

   • 1884, Richard F[rancis] Burton, “The Sword: What is It?”, in The Book of the Sword, London: Chatto and Windus, […], →OCLC, page 137:

     The wavy, cutting surface appears in the ‘flamberge,’ to which flame gave a name: it is nowhere better developed than in the beautiful Malay kris (crease). The object seems to be that of increasing the cutting surface.

Translations

sword which had a wavy blade

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 焰形劍／焰形剑 (yànxíngjiàn)

• French: flamberge (fr) f
• German: Flamberg (de)
• Italian: flamberga (it) f
• Japanese: フランベルジェ (furanberuje)
• Russian: фла́мберг (ru) m (flámberg)
• Walloon: lambene (wa) f

Anagrams

• glebe-farm

French

Etymology

(1180) From Old French froberge ("name of a sword") changed to "flamberge" with influence of flambe from Germanic *frōberga composed of the elements *frô (“man”) and bergan (“to protect”) from Proto-Germanic *berganą from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ- (“to take care of, protect, preserve”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /flɑ̃.bɛʁʒ/

Noun

flamberge f (plural flamberges)

1. sword, brand

Further reading

• “flamberge”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• froberge in Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (flamberge)
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “frōberga”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 15/2: Germanismes: Bu–F, page 181