See Menioires et Documents puhlies par la Societe d'Histoire et d'Archeologie de Geneve (Geneva, 1841-47, 5 vols.); Wilson, Bist. of Switzerland, in Lardner's Cabi- net Ci/clopiedia ; Gailleur, La Suisse (ibid. 1855-56, 2 vols. 4to) ; Inglis, Switzerland (Lond. 1840, 8vo) ; Shaw, History of Switzerland (N. Y. 1875).
S'word, in the A. V., is the usual rendering of 3'^H, chereh (from 3'nn, to lay waste), which "was simply a large knife, as it is rendered in Josh, v, 2; Ezek. v, 1, 2. Less frequent words are H^"i, retsacli, Psa. xlii, 10 [11], a crushing or outbreak ("slaughter," Ezek. xxi, 27); rh':j, skelacli (Job xxxiii, 18; xxxvi, 12; Joel ii, 8), a dart, as elsewhere rendered; N. T. pojupaia, a sabre, or long and broad sword (Luke ii, 35 ; Kev. i, 16 ; ii, 12, 16; vi, 8; xix, 15, 21); elsewhere [ic'cx^aipa, a dagger, or short sword. See Aumoi:.
1. The first mention of this principal offensive weap- on in Bible history is in the narrative of the massacre at Shechem, when " Simeon and Levi took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly and slew all the males" (Gen. xxxiv, 25). But there is an allusion to it shortly before in a passage undoubtedly of the ear- liest date (Ewald, i, 446, note): the expostulation of Laban with Jacob (Gen. xxxi, 26). After this, during the account of the conquest and of the monarchy, the mention of the sword is frequent, but very little can be gathered from the casual notices of the text as to its shape, size, material, or mode of use. Perhaps if any- thing is to be inferred it is that the chereb was not either a heavy or a long weapon. That of Ehud was only a cubit, i. e. eighteen inches, long, so as to have been concealed under his garment, and nothing is said to lead to the inference that it was shorter than usual, for the "dagger" of the A. V. is without any ground, imless it be a rendering of the jiaxnipa of the Sept. But even assuming that Ehud's sword was shorter than usual, yet a consideration of the narratives in 2 Sam. ii, 16, and xx, 8-10, and also of the ease with which David used the sword of a man so much larger than himself as Goliath (1 Sam. xvii, 51 ; xxi, 9, 10), goes to show that the chereb was both a lighter and a shorter weapon
than the modern sword. What frightful wounds one blow of the sword of the Hebrews could inflict, if give n even with the left hand of a practiced swordsman, may be gathered from a comparison of 2 Sam. xx, 8-12 with 1 Kings ii, 5. A ghastly picture is there given us of the murdered man and his murderer. The un- fortunate Amasa actually disembowelled by the single stroke, and "wallowing" in his blood in the middle of the road — the treacherous Joab standing over him, be- spattered from his " girdle" to his " shoes" with the blood which had spouted from his victim !
The chereb was carried in a sheath ("iJ'ri, 1 Sam. xvii, 51; 2 Sam. xx, 8, only; "pD, 1 Chron. xxi, 27, only) slung by a girdle (1 Sam. xxv, 13) and resting upon the thigh (Psa. xlv, 3; Judg. iii, 16), or upon the hips (2 Sam. xx, 8). " Girding on the sword" was a symbolical expression for commencing war, the more forcible because in times of peace even the king in state did not wear a sword (1 Kings iii, 24) ; and a similar expression occurs to denote those able to serve (Judg. viii, 10; 1 Chron. xxi, 5). Other phrases, derived from the chereb, are, " to smite with the edge (literally 'mouth;' comp. aro^ia; and comp. 'devour,' Isa. i, 20) of the sword" — "slain with the sword" — "men that drew sword," etc.
Swords with two edges are occasionally referred to (Judg. iii, 16: Psa. cxlix, 6), and allusions are found to "whetting" the sword (Deut. xxxii, 41; Psa. lxiv,'3; Ezek. xxi, 9). There is no reference to the material of which it was composed (unless it be Isa. ii, 4; Joel iii, 10) ; doubtless it was of metal, from the allusions to its brightness and "glittering" (see the two passages quoted above, and others), and the ordinary word for blade, viz. "Zrh, " a flame." From the expression (Josh. V, 2,3) "swords of rock," A. V. "sharp knives," we maj' perhaps infer that in early times the material was flint. — Smith. See Knife.
Ancient Persian Swords and Daggers.
a. From the sculijtui-es at Persepolis ; h. From those at Shiruz ; o. From those at Takht-i-Bostan.
2. The Egyptian sword was straight and short, from two and a half to three feet in length, having generally a double edge, and tapering to a sharp point. It was used for cut and thrust. They had also a dagger, the handle of which, hollowed in the centre, and gradually increasing in thickness at either extremity, was inlaid with costly stones, precious woods, or metals; and the pommel of that worn by the king in his girdle was fre- quently surmounted by one or two heads of a hawk, the symbol of Phrah, or the Sun, the title given to the monarchs of the Nile. It was much smaller than the sword : its blade was about ten or seven inches in length, tapering gradually in breadth, from one inch and a half to two thirds of an inch, towards the point; and the total length, with the handle, only completed a foot or sixteen inches. The blade was bronze, thicker in the