An atgeir, sometimes called a "mail-piercer" or "hewing-spear", was a type of

polearm A polearm or pole weapon is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is fitted to the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, thereby extending the user's effective range and striking power. Polearms are predominantl ...

in use in

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

and Norse colonies in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. The word is related to the

old norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

''geirr'', meaning

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...

. It is usually translated in English as "

halberd A halberd (also called halbard, halbert or Swiss voulge) is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The word ''halberd'' is cognate with the German word ''Hellebarde'', deriving from ...

", but most likely closer resembled a bill or

glaive A glaive (or glave) is a European polearm, consisting of a single-edged blade on the end of a pole. It is similar to the Japanese naginata, the Chinese guandao, the Korean woldo, and the Russian sovnya. Overview Typically, the blade is arou ...

during the Viking age. Another view is that the term had no association with a specific weapon until it is used as an anachronism in saga literature to lend weight to accounts of special weapons. Later the word was used for typical European halberds, and even later multipurpose staves with spearheads were called ''atgeirsstafir''. The term is first used as a term in Teutonic sources after the Viking Age. It is not used in any Viking Age source and there are no remains from archaeology which can be identified with the term. The references from saga literature are not relevant to the Viking Age but come from Iceland of the thirteenth century and later. Originally it meant 'most spear-like spear' i.e. best spear, and can refer to a light or a heavy weapon. Arguably the most famous atgeir was Gunnar Hámundarson's, as described in Njal's Saga. According to the saga, this weapon would make a ringing sound (or "sing") when it was taken down in anticipation of bloodshed. However, Njal's saga is one of the latest and most obviously authored sagas, and details of clothing or weaponry are almost without doubt based on medieval models, not Viking ones.Sigurdsson 2004

Notes

References

* Cook, Robert (transl.) ''Njal's Saga''. Penguin Classics, 2001. * Oakeshott, R. Ewart. ''The Archaeology of Weapons: Arms and Armour from Prehistory to the Age of Chivalry.'' London: Lutterworth Press, 1960. pp. 119–120. * Keller,M.C., The Anglo-Saxon Weapon Names Treated Etymologically and Archæologically, Heidelberg 1906. * Sigurdsson,G., The Medieval Icelandic Saga and Oral Tradition, Harvard University 2004. {{Viking Viking warfare Spears Medieval polearms Germanic weapons

See also

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References