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The pollaxe is a type of European polearm which was widely used by medieval infantry. It is also known by the names poleaxe, pole-axe, pole axe, polax, and ''Hache'' (French meaning axe). The term has become synonymous with felling or striking down with delivery of a blow. == Etymology == Sometimes weapons such as the halberd, the bardiche or the Danish axe are mistakenly called pollaxes as they are indeed axes mounted on poles, but many etymological authorities consider the ''poll''- prefix historically unrelated to "pole", instead meaning "head".〔The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following etymology, s.v. Poleaxe: :(''pollax'', ''polax'', Sc. ''powax'' = MDu. ''polaex'', ''pollaex'', MLG. and LG. ''polexe'', ''pollexe'' (whence MSw. 15th c. ''polyxe'', ''pulyxe'', MDa. ''polöxe''), f. ''pol'', POLL n.1, Sc. ''pow'', MDu., MLG. ''polle'', ''pol'' head + AXE: cf. MDu. ''polhamer'' = poll-hammer, also a weapon of war. It does not appear whether the combination denoted an axe with a special kind of head, or one for cutting off or splitting the head of an enemy. In the 16th c. the word began to be written by some ''pole-axe'' (which after 1625 became the usual spelling), as if an axe upon a ''pole'' or long handle. This may have been connected with the rise of sense 2. Similarly, mod.Sw. ''pålyxa'' and Westphalian dial. ''pålexe'' have their first element = pole. Sense 3 may be a substitute for the earlier ''bole-axe'', which was applied to a butcher's axe. )〕 There are however some etymologists, such as Eric Partridge, who do believe that the word is derived from "pole".〔For instance, Eric Partridge gives the following etymology: :L ''Palus'', stake becomes OE ''pal'', whence ME ''pol'', ''pole'', E ''Pole'', the ME cpd ''pollax'', ''polax'' becomes ''poleaxe'', AE ''poleaxe'': cf AX (E)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pollaxe」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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