[Matchlock]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

Wow! It is amazing to see where the tomahawk got its start! The tomahawk site I listed actually has a picture of one to show the advancement of the throwing axe (That site refers to it as a German 'hurlbat'?). In any case, thank you Michael for the enlightenment! As an occasional ax collector, it is amazing to see where the early 'hawks' evolved from-

Hi Mark,


It is my turn to say thanks because connecting the item in discussion with the principle of a tomahawk, was your brilliant idea!

I did notice that term Hurlbat in one of the descriptions you posted, but it is by no means a German word that I have ever heard of, and my native language has been a close hobby of mine - since the days of my childhood, and my very first year in school, at the age of six.


Anyway, this is what Wikipedia says:

Hurlbat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A hurlbat (or whirlbat, whorlbat) is (the; added by the author of this post) term for a type of weapon of unclear original definition. Older reference works refer to it largely as a type of club, either held in the hand or possibly thrown. Modern usage appears to refer to a type of throwing-axe.

Dictionary references

The term was used as a by-name in England as early as 1327, and the hurlebatte was mentioned, possibly as a type of club, among the pikestaff and sword and buckler in a 1440 text.[1]

• The 16th-century Thomas Elyot dictionary uses the term to translate a Latin word, and describes a throwing action: Adides, short battes of a cubyte longe and an halfe, hauynge pikes of yron in theym, and were tyed to a lyne, that whanne they were throwen, he that did cast thẽ, mought plucke them agayn vnto him, hurlebattes.[2]
• A 1707 English dictionary defines whorlbat as "a kind of Gauntlet with Straps and leaden Plummets, uſed by the ancient Heroes in their ſolemn Games and Exerciſes.[3]
• An 1837 of the Samuel Johnson dictionary defined it as simply "a weapon",[4]
• An 1854 John Craig dictionary defined it as "an old kind of weapon".[5]
• An 1856 German-English dictionary used whirlbat as synonymous with "club for fighting".[6]
• A 1911 dictionary notes it to be a kind of club or cudgel, so called because whirled around the head. It does not appear that such a weapon was thrown.[7]

Best,
Michael