Seax

A seax is a small sword, fighting knife, or dagger typical of the Germanic peoples of the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages, especially the Saxons, whose own name is thought to derive from it. The word comes from an Old English term for knife, with cognate forms in Old Frisian, Old Saxon, and Old High German tracing back to a common Germanic root meaning to cut. Seaxes changed considerably between roughly 450 and 800 AD, moving from a secondary weapon carried alongside a double-edged sword to a primary edged weapon from the seventh century onward, often paired with a francisca throwing axe or a smaller companion knife, and growing heavier, longer, and broader over time. The seax also survives as a charge in heraldry, appearing as a curved, notched blade on the coats of arms of Essex and the former county of Middlesex. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/