Glossary

The work and its parts

Zettel the Record

Liechtenauer's mnemonic verse epitome of the whole art: deliberately "hidden and disguised words" ([P 1]) meant to index an oral teaching, not replace it. Composed fourteenth century; transmitted from ca. 1390 (MS 3227a) onward.

Bloßfechten unarmored fencing

Fencing "with the extended/long sword" without harness; the long-sword Zettel [LS 1]-[LS 23]. The term itself comes from the tradition; the preface says simply "with the long sword."

Roßfechten mounted fencing

The art with lance (glefen) and sword on horseback, [D 1]-[D 8], digested in the 26 figures ([F 1]-[F 29]).

Kampffechten dueling

The judicial duel (kampf); on foot in harness with the shortened sword, [D 9]-[D 13].

kurtzes swert shortened sword

The half-sword grip of the armored duel (left hand on the blade), not a shorter weapon: "with the shortened sword for the duel" ([P 1], [D 9]).

figuren figures

The 26 imperative taglines digesting the mounted teaching ([F 3]-[F 28]); a second-order mnemonic layered over the verse during the fifteenth century.

Doctrinal core

vor the Before

Acting first so the enemy must answer you; with nach, "the single wellspring of all art" ([LS 1]). Applies identically to sword ([LS 1]), armored duel ([D 13]), and wrestling (the vorgriff, [D 8]).

nach the After

The answering position: not defeat, but the state from which you exploit his committed action (see nachreisen).

indes in-the-instant

Acting within the enemy's action at the moment the bind reveals him: "Indes — mark that word" ([LS 1]); "the word Indes cuts sharply" ([LS 13]). The hinge between fühlen and technique.

fühlen feeling

Reading pressure through the blades in the bind: "learn the feeling" ([LS 13]). Its entire output is the binary waich oder hert.

swech / sterck weak / strong

The blade's halves (foible toward the point, forte toward the cross) and the leverage relation between crossed blades ([LS 1], [LS 23]).

waich / hert soft / hard

The two possible answers of fühlen; the only test the Zettel ever asks of a bind ([LS 4], [LS 13], [LS 21], [LS 23]).

leng und masse length and measure

Proportion (distance, reach, timing) as the governing law of the art; the preface's closing thesis ([P 2]).

krieg the war

The close contest of windings once the blades are bound and hilts near: "let your Krieg not be hasty… what the Krieg aims above, below it is shamed" ([LS 4]); the edel krieg ("noble war") disorients the enemy who forced it ([LS 7]).

drei wunder three wounders

The three ways every position wounds: hew, thrust, cut (haw, stich, schnit) — "break each particular into three wounders" ([LS 23]). Pun on Wunder (wonder) / Wunden (wounds) is likely and old.

blösse(n) opening(s)

The four target quarters of the man (upper/lower, left/right): know them, aim at them, break them ([LS 5], [LS 6]); in armor the openings shrink to leather, gauntlet, and under the eyes ([D 11]).

treffen meeting

Any contact-moment of the weapons; "in all meetings" is the Zettel's phrase for "in every bind, every time" ([LS 4], [LS 17], [D 13]).

gefert conduct / movements

The enemy's actions as they unfold, the thing you "test… for no more than soft or hard" ([LS 13], [LS 23]).

The five hews (Meisterhäue of the gloss tradition)

zornhau wrath-hew

The strong diagonal from the shoulder that rides over an Oberhau and threatens with the point (zornhau ort); the model of strike-and-threat ([LS 4]).

krumphau crooked hew

The off-line hew with crossed hands onto his hands or flat; counter to Ochs and to parriers; feigned, it opens the changing-through ([LS 7]).

twerhau / zwerchhau thwart-hew

The horizontal hew with the blade athwart, "takes away whatever comes from the day" ([LS 8]); cycles between Ochs and Pflug on both sides.

schielhau squinting-hew

The short-edge hew thrown with averted gaze; breaks the buffalo's strength and the changer-through at once; targets throat and upper head ([LS 9]).

scheitelhau parting-hew

The vertical hew to the crown/part of the hair; overruns low guards; countered by the Kron, which is broken in turn by cutting ([LS 10]).

fünf häue five hews

The set of the above, "from the right hand against the weapon" ([LS 2]); the Copenhagen calls them the five vowels (funff focal) that underlie all fencing.

oberhau hew from above

Any descending strike; the raw material the five hews refine ("whoever hews at you above…" [LS 4]).

Guards and standing positions

leger guard / lair

A standing position of sword and body. The Zettel admits four alone and scorns the rest ([LS 11]).

ochs Ox

Hanging-point guard beside the head, point at his face from above; one of the two "hangings" ([LS 8], [LS 21]).

pflug Plow

Point at his face from below beside the hip; the lower hanging ([LS 8], [LS 21]).

alber Fool

Point slack toward the ground; the baiting guard that "wards" ([LS 3], [LS 11]); prey of the Scheitelhau.

vom tag From-the-Day

Sword raised to strike (shoulder or above); the striking guard; what the Twer "takes away" ([LS 8], [LS 11]).

die gemain the common (guards)

Everyone else's named wards, dismissed wholesale: "flee the common" ([LS 11]).

kron Crown

The high hilt-forward catch of the Scheitelhau; strong above, broken by slicing beneath its arms ([LS 10]).

sprechfenster speaking-window

The bind held on purpose in long point, point at his face, "standing cheerfully" to read him; the observation-post of the system ([LS 22]).

schilt shield

In "no changer comes at your shield" ([LS 1]): the cover formed by your own close, direct threat — not a physical shield.

The chief pieces (Hauptstücke)

versetzen setting-aside

Double sense: the four hews that break the four guards (the four Versetzen, [LS 12]), and the passive parry the same verses condemn ("beware of parrying").

ansetzen setting-on

Planting the point on an opening; how displaced fights are finished ("set on at the four ends," [LS 12]) and how armored fights are won ([D 3], [D 9]).

nachreisen travelling-after

Striking into his preparation, his miss, or his recovery; the tactical harvest of the Nach ([LS 13]).

überlaufen overrunning

Out-reaching a low attack by striking over it instead of parrying down ([LS 14]).

absetzen setting-aside (of thrusts)

The single-time wind that catches his thrust and lands yours: "your point hits and his breaks" ([LS 15]).

durchwechseln changing-through

Slipping the point under his blade to the other side as he hunts the bind ([LS 16]); punished by the Schielhau and by close hewing.

zucken twitching

Snapping the blade out of the bind to re-enter at another opening; iterable ("twitch — twitch more"); the bind-side feint ([LS 17]).

durchlaufen running-through

Ducking through under his arms into body-wrestling when he crowds with strength ([LS 18], developed at [D 10], [D 12]).

abschneiden cutting-off

The four slices (two under, two over the arms) that stop force without contest ([LS 19]); the alter schnitt ("old cut") of [LS 13] is this applied against the traveller-after's counter.

hendtrucken pressing of hands

Converting the under-slice over his wrists, edge turned to the flats, jailing his arms ([LS 20]).

hengen hanging

The two point-forward inclinations (Ochs above, Pflug below) per side, "from one hand from the ground" ([LS 21]); the doorway to winding.

winden winding

Rotating the sword against the bind to bring point, edge, or pommel to bear while staying covered; acht winden — the eight windings (2 hangings × 2 sides × 2 lines), each threefold by the three wounders = the 24 of the conclusion ([LS 23]).

duplieren doubling

The instant second strike behind his blade at the upper opening when the bind is hard ([LS 6]).

mutieren mutating

Transmuting the bind, winding the point over to the lower opening on the other side ([LS 6]).

Provocation and deception

feler failer

The deliberately missed hew that converts below: "whoever leads the Feler, from below he touches at his will"; doubled, it ends in the cut ([LS 8]).

verkehrer inverter

The turning-over of blade/hand in the bind that compels his arm, entering to the elbow and the wrestling ([LS 8]).

zeckrühr snap-hit

The stinging tag-hits to head and body thrown inside the fight without abandoning cover: "do not shun the snap-hits" ([LS 1], Rome zegt).

wechsler changer

The fencer who lives by changing-through; kept off by close hewing ([LS 1]), robbed by the Schielhau ([LS 9]).

püffel buffalo

The strength-fencer who "strikes or thrusts" with force and no art; the Schielhau's natural prey ([LS 9]).

Mounted and armored vocabulary

glefen lance

The knightly spear of the mounted fight ([P 1], [D 2]); 3227a's diminutive glefney.

schütten shielding-shake

The mounted universal parry: the sweeping blade-shake that "precedes all meetings, hews and thrusts" ([F 7], [D 3], [D 13]).

taschenhau pouch-hew

The mounted hew sought where the harness sags (pouch/strap region, left arm and hip) ([D 3], [F 9]).

jagen chasing

The pursuit geometry of the mounted duel: chase to his right hand; if forced left, hunt his sword and wrestle ([D 5], [D 6], [F 3], [F 20]).

wider reiten counter-riding

Riding against his onset as the answer to being hunted or grappled ([D 4], [D 6], [F 28]).

schaf grif sheep-grip

The master-grip warding "all grips of wrestling under the eyes" ([D 4], [F 15]).

sunnen zaigen sun-showing

The mounted throw that cranks the face skyward by forehead and nape until the seat fails ([D 8], [F 29]).

vorgriff fore-grip

The first meaningful grip in wrestling, "it breaks his strength from then on" ([D 8]); the Vor in grappling clothes.

messer nemen knife-taking

Disarming and keeping the dagger ([D 7], [F 27]).

der ungenannte (griff) the unnamed grip

The deliberately secret hold that inverts the strong ([D 7], [F 25]); the tradition withholds even its name.

rigel bar / bolt

The limb shot across his fore-leg as a lock in the duel's wrestling: "shoot the bar forth" ([D 10]).

verbotne ringen forbidden wrestlings

The maiming holds barred from play and school, taught for the earnest duel ([D 12]).

vorstich fore-thrust

The first thrust of the armored spear-phase, the duel's Vorschlag ([D 9]).

schiessen shooting

Driving the point home by sliding the blade through the leading hand at the half-sword; beats the strength-grip ([D 13]).

klöss pommel(-blow)

Percussive pommel work, explicitly deprioritized against point and grip: "knife — do not wait for pommel-blows" ([D 3]).

leder, hantschuech, under augen leather, gauntlet, under the eyes

The armored target triad: straps and gaps, the glove, the visor slot ([D 3], [D 11], [F 12]).