Claymore

The word claymore has been used to describe two distinct types of swords used by Scottish warriors and soldiers. The first was a large, two-handed sword used in the medieval period. Used in the constant clan warfare and border fights with the English from 1500 to 1650. Widely feared because its lightness made it faster in combat than its European counterparts. Early Scottish medieval swords developed a distinctive style of cross-hilt with downsloping arms that ended in spatulate swellings. The two-handed claymore seems to be an offshoot of those swords as they were developed into great swords.

The average Claymore ran about 55 inches (1.4 m) in over all length, with a 13 inch (330 mm) grip and a 42 inch (1 m) blade. Fairly uniform in style, the sword was set with a wheel pommel often capped by a crescent shaped nut and a guard with straight, down-sloping arms ending in quatrefoils and langets running down the center of the blade from the guard.

The second was a one-handed basket-hilted sword and was issued to Scottish troops in the 18th century. The latter form of claymore can be seen in some forms of Scottish traditional dance.

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See also: claymore mines, a type of directional landmine originally used by United States armed forces beginning in the Vietnam War era.