Swords

Chainmaille is great for stopping slicing cuts. Not so great at stopping stabs or arrows.

Butcher gloves:
butcher-stainless-steel-safety-glove-1397095324-1.jpg
 
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Right. And given that the falchion doesn't exactly excel as a thrusting weapon (cusped varieties are better in that regard, but still...), that pretty much leaves you with a clever. At which it does a fantastic job.
 
I found a Wikipedia article that touches the subject, it's a start but we will have to dig some more of course. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mythological_objects#Swords_from_Norse_mythology

On the same page (but a bit higher up) are some Celtic swords that I think are pretty cool. Some are perhaps too powerful though. (That is, if we should be inspired by the descriptions and not just the names)

So here are some of the names from that page, which seems like a great starting point for naming mythological swords! Annoyingly, you have to click through to get the translations in most cases, but whatever, still a great collection.

Gram - Wrath - sword Sigurd used to kill the dragon Fafnir
Lævateinn - Damage Twig / Wounding Wand - belonged to Freyr, maybe?
Leg Biter
Mistletoe
Tyrfing - ??? - cursed dwarf-made sword (kills someone every time it is drawn)
Dragvandil - ??? - belonged to Egill, an Icelandic berserker poet
Hǫfuð - Man head - Heimdallr's sword
Hrotti - ??? - treasure from a dragon hoard
Skofnung - ??? - the sword of legendary Danish king Hrólf Kraki, taken from a grave in another saga
Ridill/Refil - ??? - sword belonging to a dwarf (Regin) used to cut out a dragon's heart
Dáinsleif - Dáinn's legacy - King Högni's sword, dwarf-made (kills someone every time it is drawn)

So, just at a glance, I am totally going to translate "Damage Twig" now, but not for Fëanor's sword. "Wrath" would be good for him, though. I also like the idea of translating "Riddle" as an oblique reference to Ridill. I should probably go figure out what Tyrfing and Dragvandil mean.
 
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Ok, in response to the "Who would use a falchion?" question, my suggestion is Caranthir. He seems like the guy most likely to enjoy mowing through unarmored opponents. You might see him wielding it at Doriath.
 
*sigh* of course this isn't as straightforward as I might want.

I did not find a Quenya word for 'twig'.

Branch is olva.
Truncated branch, stump, stub is tolvo.

Also couldn't find a Quenya word for 'damage.'

Danger is raxë
Injure is hyan-


I suppose Olvaraxë (Danger-branch) isn't the worst sword name ever, but it's not nearly as ridiculous as Damage Twig and I feel cheated.


Gram will be a good deal easier to translate!
Wrath is rúsë (Þ), or ormë (which means 'wrath, haste, violence, rushing')

No translation of 'riddle' or 'puzzle' yet, but REFIL is easy, as 'Si man i yulma enquantuva?' is 'Who will refill the cup for me?' so enquat.
 
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Dáinsleif - Dáinn's legacy - King Högni's sword, dwarf-made (kills someone every time it is drawn)
Apparently 'dainn' is not just a dwarf name or means dwarf but also 'deadling' (or dead person). So this might have a different meaning.
 
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*sigh* of course this isn't as straightforward as I might want.

I did not find a Quenya word for 'twig'.

Branch is olva.
Truncated branch, stump, stub is tolvo.

Also couldn't find a Quenya word for 'damage.'

Danger is raxë
Injure is hyan-


I suppose Olvaraxë (Danger-branch) isn't the worst sword name ever, but it's not nearly as ridiculous as Damage Twig and I feel cheated.
I should know better than to stick my nose into linguistic issues but I found that 'wand' translated as olwe(n) and 'damage/hurt' as naitya-. I'm not at all sure how to combine thes two elements - Naity(a)(o)lwen with to me unclear riles of removal of one of the vowels in parenthesis. Naityalwen or Naityolwen? Or maybe something totally different. (Also, I get a sense that naitya- indicates psychological damage rather than physical) Apparently I don't seem to mind embarrassing myself and probably used bad sources...one place recommended harna for 'damage'. This seems to indicate 'wound' in a physical sense very clearly - and it is also a word in Sindarin. An alternative is nahta-, which indicates 'wound' but also 'slay'. In Sindarin, I found naedh, meaning 'a wounding, a wound', and for 'branch' golf which could give us Harnagol or Naedhgol (and yes I took the liberty of letting the final f go, which might be a crime, I don't know). There, I did it. I went and stuck my nose in it...
 
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Apparently 'dainn' is not just a dwarf name or means dwarf but also 'deadling' (or dead person). So this might have a different meaning.

'Dead man's legacy' is actually a great sword name! I'll see if I can do something with that....
 
I should know better than to stick my nose into linguistic issues but I found that 'wand' translated as olwe(n) and 'damage/hurt' as naitya-. I'm not at all sure how to combine thes two elements - Naity(a)(o)lwen with to me unclear riles of removal of one of the vowels in parenthesis. Naityalwen or Naityolwen? Or maybe something totally different. (Also, I get a sense that naitya- indicates psychological damage rather than physical) Apparently I don't seem to mind embarrassing myself and probably used bad sources...one place recommended harna for 'damage'. This seems to indicate 'wound' in a physical sense very clearly - and it is also a word in Sindarin. An alternative is nahta-, which indicates 'wound' but also 'slay'. In Sindarin, I found naedh, meaning 'a wounding, a wound', and for 'branch' golf which could give us Harnagol or Naedhgol (and yes I took the liberty of letting the final f go, which might be a crime, I don't know). There, I did it. I went and stuck my nose in it...

If your sources appear here, they are good:
http://www.elvish.org/gwaith/language.htm

Here's a good Quenya wordlist, though it contains some 'invented' words, not just words Tolkien coined (clearly marked as such). I tend to use the word-lists on Ardalambion.
http://www.elvish.org/gwaith/ppq/ppq.htm
 
Doesn't that imply that the sword belonged to a dead man?

What, and no one inherits a blade from a dead man or steals one from a tomb? I agree that that can't be Fëanor's sword that he forged himself, but we've got an entire history of Middle Earth to work with; it'll make sense eventually.
Dead man is easy enough:

Dead: firin (natural causes) or qualin (possibly suggests pain or sickness?); vanwa (past and over, departed, lost, vanished, dead, no longer to be had)
Man: nér (any race); vëo or vëaner (adult man); Atan (of the race of Men[Edain])

Legacy: This is trickier, but I think we can do something with Elurín's name (Remembrance of Thingol) if we are okay with naming this one in Sindarin. REMEMBRANCE rîn (construct rin), no distinct pl. form except with article (idh rîn) (PM:372), coll. pl. ?ríniath.
Man: benn (any race); Adan (mortal man [Edain])
Dead: gwann "departed, dead"

Because of complicated lenition rules, I have to look up a lot of stuff to figure out how to put that all together. But I think we can have 'Dead Man's Remembrance'
 
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(Also, I get a sense that naitya- indicates psychological damage rather than physical)

I would agree. It is listed as meaning PUT TO SHAME (vb) in one of the word lists, and apparently comes from the Qenya Lexicon in Parma Eldalamberon's 12th volume.
 
What, and no one inherits a blade from a dead man or steals one from a tomb? I agree that that can't be Fëanor's sword that he forged himself, but we've got an entire history of Middle Earth to work with; it'll make sense eventually.
Dead man is easy enough:

Dead: firin (natural causes) or qualin (possibly suggests pain); vanwa (past and over, departed, lost, vanished, dead, no longer to be had)
Man: nér (any race); vëo or vëaner (adult man); Atan (of the race of Men[Edain])

Legacy: This is trickier, but I think we can do something with Elurín's name (Remembrance of Thingol) if we are okay with naming this one in Sindarin. REMEMBRANCE rîn (construct rin), no distinct pl. form except with article (idh rîn) (PM:372), coll. pl. ?ríniath.
Man: benn (any race); Adan (mortal man [Edain])
Dead: gwann "departed, dead"

Because of complicated lenition rules, I have to look up a lot of stuff to figure out how to put that all together. But I think we can have 'Dead Man's Remembrance'
It might be possible to use anna (gift). Loico is 'corpse, dead body' but that's perhaps a bit off the mark. Dengin however is Noldorin for '(of the) slain'. So perhaps Anna Dengin, if a two word name is possible. But that sounds like a real world name...actually I'm going to use that in a story, as an inside joke for Tolkien fans....
 
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some proposed translations...

cantharol (gol. "Flaming")
Orna (Sword of Tethra/Ogma in irish Myth) maybe Q. Sine or Sinde?
Claíomh Solais (Sword of Nuada, irish Myth) - Calmacil (Q. "Sword of Light)
Fragarach (Sword of Lugh/Manannan) - Aqetto or Aquetanto (Q.Answerer)
Mimung - emqualie or Mintion (Q.Memory or scion of memory?)
Balmung - Engaion (Q. "Scion of Enbalming or preserving?)
Nothung - Maureion (Q. Scion of Need)
Excalibur - Ondina or Ondren (Q. S. "Out of Stone")
Gram - Raiqa (Q. "Angry")



 
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