Migration Period spear

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The spear together with the sword (longsax) and the shield was the main equipment of the early Germanic warriors. The pre-migration term reported by Tacitus is framea, who identifies it as "hasta"; The native term for "javelin, spear" was Old High German gêr, Old English gâr, Old Norse geirr, from Proto-Germanic *gaizaz, PIE *ghaisos.

1 German ger
2 Framea
3 Literature
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] German ger

The word kêr or gêr is attested since the 8th century (Hildebrandslied 37, Heliand 3089).

It occurs as element in Germanic personal names, such as male Hrothgar, Ansgar, Gernot, Rüdiger, Gerhart, Gerald, female Gertrut, Gerlint.

The term survives into Modern German as Ger or Gehr (Grimm 1854) with a generalized meaning of "gusset" besides "spear". In contemporary German, the word is used exclusively in antiquated or poetic context, and a feminine Gehre is used in the sense of "gusset".

[edit] Framea

Tacitus (Germania 6) describes the equipment of the Germanic warrior as follows:

Even iron is not plentiful with them, as we infer from the character of their weapons. But few use swords or long lances. They carry a spear [hasta] (framea is their name for it), with a narrow and short head, but so sharp and easy to wield that the same weapon serves, according to circumstances, for close or distant conflict. As for the horse-soldier, he is satisfied with a shield and spear; the foot-soldiers also scatter showers of missiles each man having several and hurling them to an immense distance, and being naked or lightly clad with a little cloak.

The term is also used by Eucherius, Gregory of Tours and Isidore. By the time of Isidore (7th century), framea referred to a sword, not a spear. Since Tacitus himself reports that the word is natively Germanic, various Germanic etymologies of a Proto-Germanic *framja, *framjō or similar have been suggested, but remain speculative. Must (1958) suggests *þramja, cognate to Old Norse þremjar "edges, sword blades", Old Saxon thrumi "point of a spear".

[edit] Literature

Gustav Must, "The Origin of framea", Language, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1958), pp. 364-366.
Mark Harrison and Gerry Embleton, Osprey Warrior 005 - Anglo-Saxon Thegn 449-1066 AD [1] [2]