sparthe

English

Noun

sparthe (plural sparthes)

1. Alternative form of sparth (“battle-axe”)

Anagrams

• Tharpes, hapters, pathers, spareth, spreath, tephras, teraphs, threaps

Middle English

FWOTD – 5 December 2022

Alternative forms

• sparreth, sparth, sparþe

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse sparða.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsparð(ə)/, /sparθ/

Noun

sparthe (plural sparthes)

1. battle-axe
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Knyghtes Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:

     He hath a sparth of twenti pound of wight.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

• English: sparth

References

• “sparth(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.