▪ I. sparth1 Obs. exc. Hist.
Also 4 sparþe, 4–7 (9) sparthe, 5 sparreth, 9 sperth(e.
[ad. ON. sparða of obscure origin, perh. related to OHG. partâ (MHG. barte), OS. barda (MLG. barde) of the same meaning. Cf. spar n.5
Sparke in Spenser St. Ireland Wks. (Globe) 676/1 is prob. a misreading for either sparthe or sparre.]
1. A long-handled broad-bladed battle-axe, used especially by the Irish down to the 16th century.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 209 An ax in his oþer [hand], a hoge & vn-mete, A spetos sparþe to expoun in spelle quo-so myȝt. a 1363 Higden Polychron. (Rolls) I. 350 Tres fratres..usum securium, qui Anglice sparth dicitur, ad terram Hiberniæ comportarunt. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1662 He hath a sparth of twenti pound of wighte. a 1400–50 Alexander 1403 Now a schaft, now a schild,..Now a sparth, now a spere. Ibid. 2458 Sparrethis spetous to spend & speris in handis. c 1425 Eng. Conq. Ireland 16 Al, with wepne ryngynge, speres and sparthes ruthlynge to-geddre. 1530 Palsgr. 273/2 Sparthe, an instrument. 1586 J. Hooker Hist. Irel. in Holinshed II. 33/1 The one part giuing a fierce onset with stones and spa[r]ths, & the other defending themselues with bowes and weapons. a 1604 Hanmer Chron. Ireland (1809) 59 Their chiefe armes were Skeynes, Speares, Darts, Slings, and Sparthes (which we call Galloglas Axes). Ibid. 170 Of these and the former Norwegians, the Irish took the use of the sparthes, now called Galloglas axes. 1801 Scott Eve St. John iii, At his saddle-gerthe was a good steel sperthe. |
2. transf. A fighting-man armed with an axe of this kind; a galloglass.
| c 1518 in Jrnl. Kilkenny Arch. Soc. Ser. ii. IV. 112 The said Brene shull finde on his propre Costes an c Sparthis of Gallogles, on his vitailles and wagges..for a quarter of a yere. 1862 Ibid. Note, Every Sparthe or axman was attended by four ‘horse boys’. |
▪ II. † sparth2 Obs.—1
(Meaning obscure.)
| c 1480 Henryson Fables, Parl. Beasts xv, The anteloip, the sparth furth can speid. |