Middle English Dictionary Entry
baselā̆rd n.(1)
Entry Info
| Forms | baselā̆rd n.(1) Also baslard. |
| Etymology | Probably AF baslard, baselard (cp. MF basalart), whence also AL baselardus, corresponding to It. basolardo; cp. CF bazelaire, badelaire (whence also MLG. beseler and MScots baslare), of similar meaning. Perhaps ult. from name of the Swiss city of Basel by virtue of its cutlers. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
A kind of short straight sword or dagger, in civilian use, worn in a sheath hung from a strap, e.g. at the girdle; ~ knif; in some examples perhaps used loosely of a curved 'hanger.'
Associated quotations
- [ (a1349) Wardrobe Acc.Edw.III(1) in Archaeol.3130 : j baselard. ]
- [ (1388) Statutes Realm2.57 : Null servant de husbandrie ou laborer, ne servant de artificer ne de vitailler, ne porte..baslard, dagger, nespee. ]
- c1390 Disp.GM & Devil (Vrn)270 : Now is non worþ a fart, But he bere a baselart I-honget bi his syde.
- (1395) Will York in Sur.Soc.453 : Unum baselard ornatum cum manubrio de murro.
- c1400(a1376) PPl.A(1) (Trin-C R.3.14)11.211 : Ac now is religioun a ridere & a rennere aboute..A bidowe or a baselard he beriþ be his side.
- c1400(c1378) PPl.B (LdMisc 581)15.118 : But if many a prest bere, for here baselardes and here broches, A peyre bedes in her hande.
- (1418) EEWills34/28 : My Baselard harneysed with siluer.
- (c1426) Audelay Poems (Dc 302)15/150 : His gurdlis harneschit with siluer, his baslard hongus bye.
- (a1438) MKempe A (Add 61823)208/9 : Þan cam on wyth a baselard-knyfe..& kytt þat precyows body al on long in þe brest.
- c1440(c1350) Octav.(1) (Thrn)157 : A scharpe baselarde owte he droghe, þat giltles knaue þere he sloghe.
- a1450(a1425) Mirk IPP (Cld A.2:Peacock)48 : In honeste clothes thow moste gon, Baselarde ny bawdryke were þow non.
- a1450 Lestenit lordynges I you beseke (Sln 2593)p.279 : Ther is non man worght a leke..But he bere a baselard. Myn baselard haght a schede of red and a clene loket of led.
- a1450 Lestenit lordynges I you beseke (Sln 2593)p.279 : Che seyde I was a praty manne and wel cowde bere myn baselard.
- (a1464) Capgr.Chron.(Cmb Gg.4.12)125 : With a scharp basulard he smet the Kyng among the boweles and killid him.
- (1472) Will York in Sur.Soc.45202 : j baslard vocatum Iresch skene..ornatum cum auro.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Etymology and gloss have been modified, relative to those in the print MED, to reflect the suggestions made by C. Blair, "The Word 'Baselard'," Journal of the Arms & Armour Society 11:4 (December 1984), 193-206; and the similar changes made by OD on the same basis.
Note: Though it evidently came to be used quite quickly of any of several varieties of knife, Blair identifies the baselard originally with 'a sword or dagger that was extensively used by all ranks of society, but especially by the middle classes, during the second half of the fourteenth and much of the fifteenth century.., the short-sword/dagger with a straight triangular blade and a hilt shaped like a capital letter I that is .. more frequently represented than any other type..on English civilian effiges and brasses during the period concerned, and which is usually shown with its sheath hanging from a loop passed over the girdle or from a diagonal shoulder-belt" (p. 194)
Note: Greene, Early English Carols (2nd ed.), p. 462, notes that certain college chaplains were charged in a visitation of 1442 with bearing baselards beneath their gowns.