Dirk

For other uses, see Dirk (disambiguation).

Japanese WW2 naval dirk

A dirk is a short thrusting dagger, sometimes a cut-down sword blade mounted on a dagger hilt rather than a knife blade. Like the cutlass historically used as a boarding weapon for naval hand-to-hand combat during the Age of Sail, the dirk became part of the parade uniform of naval officers in the 19th and 20th centuries.^[1]

Etymology

The term is associated with Scotland in the Early Modern Era, being attested from about 1600. It is spelled dork or durk during the 17th century,^[2] presumably from the Dutch, Swedish and Danish dolk, via German dolch, tolch from a West Slavic tulich. The exact etymology is unclear; the sound change from -lk to -rk is rather common in Scots and Northern English loanwords from Danish (as in kirk, smirk from Danish kilche, smilke).^[3][4][2][5] The modern spelling dirk is probably due to Samuel Johnson's 1755 Dictionary.

The term is also used for "dagger" generically, especially in the context of prehistoric daggers such as the Oxborough dirk.

Naval dirk

WWII era Soviet naval officers' dirks

The dirk (Polish kordzik, Russian кортик) became part of the uniform of naval officers and civilian officials in the Navy Department of the Russian Empire, and in the Soviet navy an element of the dress uniform of officers. Later, it became an element of other uniforms as well, e.g. of airforce officers in the Polish army, and of the police forces in some countries.^{[clarification needed]}

Highland dirk

Main article: Highland dress

Further information: sgian dubh

Painting of George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon (1770–1836) in highland dress.

The Scottish dirk (also "Highland dirk", Scottish Gaelic: Biodag) is an optional accessoire of the black tie variant of Highland dress. This is a tradition derived from 16th to 18th century military dress. The development of the Scottish dirk is unrelated to that of the naval dirk; it is a modern continuation of the 16th-century ballock or rondel dagger.^[6]

The traditional form of the Scottish dirk is a development of the second half of the 17th century, and it became a popular item of military equipment in the Jacobite Risings. Of the 78th Fraser Highlanders, raised 1757, Browne (1838) writes that their uniform was the full highland dress including musket and broadsword, but not the dirk, but that "many soldiers added the dirk at their own expense". ^[7]

The modern development of the Scottish dirk into a dress accessoire takes place in the 19th century. The shape of the grip developed from the historical more cylindrical form to a shape intended to represent the thistle. Fancier fittings, often of silver, became popular shortly after 1800. The hilts of modern Scottish dirks are often carved from dark colored wood such as bog oak or ebony. Hilts and scabbards are often lavishly decorated with silver mounts and have pommels set with cairngorm stones. The blades measure 12" in length and are single edged with decorative file work known as "jimping" on the unsharpened back edge of the blade. When worn, the dirk normally hangs by a leather strap known as a "frog" from a dirk belt, which is a wide leather belt having a large, usually ornate buckle, that is worn around the waist with a kilt.

See also

• Kindjal
• Knife fight
• List of daggers
• Sgian dubh

References

1. ^ O'Brian, Patrick (1974)Men-of-War: Life In Nelson's Navy, p.35
2. ^ ^{a b} Hoad, T.F. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology Oxford University Press (1996) ISBN 0-19-283098-8
3. ^ Hensleigh Wedgwood, A dictionary of English etymology, 1859.
4. ^ Collins English Dictionary 21st Century Edition Harper Collins (2001) ISBN 0-00-472529-8
5. ^ Robinson, M. (ed) The Concise Scots Dictionary Chambers 1985 ISBN 0-08-028491-4
6. ^ John F. Campbell, Popular tales of the West Highlands, vol. 4, 1862, p. 365 has a sketch of the portrait of "The Regent Murray" at Taymouth, dated ca. 1560, portraying a man in Highland military dress of the era, including a dagger.
7. ^ James Browne, A history of the Highlands and of the Highland clans, vol. 4, A. Fullarton, 1838, p. 250.

External links

• Spotlight: The Scottish Dirk (myArmoury.com article)