Skeans - Ancient Irish Daggers

“A dagger; specifically, an ancient form of dagger found Ireland, usually of bronze, double-edged, and more or less leaf-shaped, and thus distinguished from the different forms of the seax, or broad-backed knife.” —Whitney, 1889

Illustration of four different skeans of varying shape and size. The examples are from the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.

Keywords

Ireland, Irish, knife, dagger, blade, bronze, handle, blades, knives, daggers, double-edged, leaf-shaped, skean, skeans

Galleries

Ancient Tools, Swords and Daggers

Source

William Dwight Whitney, PhD, LLD The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language (New York, NY: The Century Co., 1895) 5665

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