Jean du Plessis

Student Number: 34890963 EED201-J Assignment: 04 Final Project

The language used in modern day medieval combat studies by a South African Medieval Association in Plettenberg Bay.
Aims and Objectives
To study the difference in the language structure and use and the meaning of words and phrases used in context of an modern day medieval combat school compared to that of our modern every day use of language.

Dialogue
Sergeant-at-arms: Men-at-arms, take the crown. Salute our Master-at-arms Hein Jooste!

Men-at-Arms: Master-at-arms Hein, hail!

Sergeant-at-arms:

At ease ladies and gentlemen. Squires, attend to the arms and armour. Men-at-arms, apply thy armour. New members without rank, the squires will attend to the armour and help the experienced men-at-arms to get dressed in the heavy plate mail and chain mail.

Master-at-arms: Men-at arms, fall in at the Basquette. Rank and file! Take Guard Position From-theRoof. All members line up from the highest to lowest rank. Drill One; The Four Guards, in the advance, From- the-roof, Plough, Ox, Fool, Fromthe-roof! One, two, three, fourten! Men-at-arms, in the retreat! One, two, three ten! Men-at-arms, Drill Two, Guard Position, striking Overhead, from Under, Overhead, from Under, back into Guard Position. The flowing of the blade runs in the pattern of the Aids sign. Full sequence in one count. One, two, threeten! Sergeant-at-arms, please form them up in pairs of two so we can practice standing basics.

Sergeant-at-arms: The Sergeant-at-arms sorts the men-at-arms in pairs of two: Aye, Master-at-arms. Right then, all bachelors form up on the right with the squires on the left! Men-atarms, in pairs of two!

Master-at-arms: The Master-at-arms calls out the instructions: Men-at-arms, Guard position! Group One, striking with an Overhead to the head, Group Two blocking with a Winding and countering with a thrust to the chest. One, two, threeten! On the reverse! One, two, threeten! Group One, Fool stance. Group Two, striking with an Overhead to the head, Group One, block with and Under strike and using the cross-guard to lock the blade of your opponent between your own blade and your cross-guard. Now bring the tip inline with his chest. From there you have the ability to perform a Mutated strike by thrusting forward into the opponents chest. One, two, threeten! In the reverse, one, two, threeten! In your pairs, Group One step forward with a thrust to the chest from the Plough, Group Two, use the Wheel, using the Weak of the blade, to get the Upper hand and counter with a thrust to the face. One, two, threeten! Group Two, strike at your opponents head using a Twisted strike. Group One, I want you to parry by using the Transverse Strike, which will allow you to make a clean cut to your opponents wrist. One, two, threeten! Group One, assume the Ox Guard. From there you will perform a thrust to the chest. Group Two, parry by using the Barrier or Fence. One, two, threeten! Well done! Relax ladies and gentleman. Sergeant-at-arms, will you please take them for theory.

Sergeant-at-arms: Aye sir! Men-at-arms, form up in a crescent moon in front of me! All squires, I want you to heed what will be said in todays lesson. We will be explaining the different

parts of the swords and the names of the parts and how to use them. Bachelor James and Clint, if the two of you will please accompany me in the front. Squires, the sword that I am holding here is a Thomas Bastard Sword. It falls under the category of swords known as Hand-and-a-Half swords. Can anyone tell me why it is called a Hand-and-a-Half sword?

Squire One: Because one can grip the handle with both hands. A full hand grips the handle while the second hand is half on the handle and half over the Pommel.

Sergeant-at-arms: Well done! Now the part of the sword below the handle, as was mentioned by the squire, is known as the Pommel.

Bachelor Clint: I am sure you have all heard of the English expression, I will Pommel you to death. It originated from the Early Medieval Period. The blade of the sword was not the only dangerous part of the sword. The Pommel was used to hit the opponent over the head or in the face when the blade was out of reach or kept in check by the blade of the opponent.

Sergeant-at-arms: Thats right. A thousand years later, swords have long been out of every day use but the expression is still used today.

Now the cross-guard is the part that separates the handle and the blade of the sword. It is there primarily for the protection of your hands but also have other functions, such as locking techniques, as you have already practised in your pairs earlier. The Pommel, Handle and Cross-guard all form the part of the sword called the hilt

Squire Two: When were practising in pairs the Master-at-arms asked us to strike with the Short Edge in a certain move. I have no idea what part of the sword is the Short Edge.

Sergeant-At-Arms: We will get to that now. The blade of the sword as you can see is doubled edged and symmetrical on both sides. The blade can be divided into four parts; the Short Edge, Long Edge, the Weak of the blade and the Strong of the blade. When holding the sword with the Pommel facing towards the ground and the tip of the blade towards the sky, the sharp edge facing you is the Short Edge, and the edge facing away from you will be the Long Edge. It is called the Short Edge because it is the shortest distance from you and then of course the Long Edge is the furthest distance from you. The Strong of the blade is from the Cross-guard to the middle of the blade, while the Weak of the blade is the part of the sword from the middle of the blade to the tip of the sword.

Bachelor James:

The reason why it is called the Strong of the blade is that one has more control when blocking or locking with that part of the sword and less by using the Weak of the blade. Master-at-arms: Thank you very much Sergeant-at-arms and our bachelors. Bachelors, Please take all the men-at-arms for the Iron Desert.

Procedure:
The medieval combat arts have always been an interest of mine and therefore I decided to use the language of modern day medieval combat as my area of interest. I am a member of the PBSMCS (Plettenberg Bay Society for Medieval Combat Studies) and recorded and transcribed spoken language from an actual training session. Originally I made a tape recording of the actual session on 27 July 2006. It is from this tape recording that I made a written record of which I could use for my analysis. It is obvious that it was impossible to record the whole session, as it would accumulate into a very long and pointless script. Therefore I changed the structure of the recorded language used by omitting much of the unnecessary but kept all of the essential parts I would need to complete the analysis. The written form of the tape recording is in dialogue form, which provided much clarity for myself when I had to refer back to the record, and will do the same for whoever reads my analysis. The dialogue form makes it clear of who says what and brings order to a script which would be chaos without it.

All the analysis I have made in this study is relevant only to the PBSMCS and can not be seen as a study of all Medieval combat schools but only to the German style of PBSMCS. Please note that the terms used in the medieval combat studies had the same meaning in the medieval period as in todays medieval combat studies. Used outside the context of medieval combat studies they had the same meaning as in modern every day language. The first study I made was to compare seemingly familiar words and phrases we find in the language of medieval combat studies to words and phrases we use in our every day modern language. I made use of an Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 6th Edition and a medieval combat manual, Sigmund Ringeck, The Knightly Art of the Longsword, used by our combat school to compare the meaning and use of these words. My second study was to compare the tone of language used in the modern medieval combat studies to that of the modern every day language.

Findings:
The comparison of seemingly familiar words and phrases we find in the language of medieval combat studies to words and phrases we use in our every day modern language.

The first example one finds in the very first sentence of the recording of the dialogue spoken by the Sergeant-at-arms. Men-at-arms, take the crown.Hein Jooste. Looking at the word crown it is a word we still use in our every day language but in

the context of medieval combat studies the meaning of the word changes. In the medieval combat studies the word crown is a verb as it is a defensive position a swordsman takes. The book written by Sigmund Ringeck, The Knightly Art of the Longsword, defines the verb crown as a defensive stance where you stifle a strike from above or turn a thrust to the side or up by lifting the sword high point up. The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 6th Edition defines the modern every day use of crown in verb form as; to put a crown on the head of a new king or queen as a sign of royal power or in a noun form as; a circular ornament, usually made of gold and jewels, that a king or queen wears on his or her head on official occasions. The dictionary also gives several other definitions in verb and noun form but none is a defensive position in a combat art. The defensive position crown is so called because the crossbar of the sword is brought inline with the forehead of the wielder and so from the front resembles a crown on his or her head. Other examples we find in the Four Guards called out by the Master-at-arms: ...From- the-roof, Plough, Ox, Fool, From-the-roof! Again the words such a plough, ox and fool are all words familiar to us and words we use in our modern every day language. The difference again lies in the change of meaning once they are used in context of medieval combat studies. The word Ox, a castrated bull is a noun when it is used in the modern every day language. Once placed in the context of medieval combat studies the word remains a noun but the meaning changes. It is one of the Four Guard positions assumed while in a combat session. The tip of the sword in the Ox position faces straight ahead and resembles the horns of an ox, hence the name for the position. There is thus clear difference in the meaning of the word when used in the different contexts. Even the meaning of the words Fool and Plough that can be found in both verb and noun form in our modern every day language has a different

meaning from the words used in the medieval combat context. In our modern every day use of the word fool in noun form is a person who behaves or speaks in a way that lacks intelligence. In its verb form, to fool is to trick something into believing something that is not true. The modern every day usage of the noun or the verb fool, differs from the use Fool in medieval combat studies. In medieval combat the word Fool is a noun and another one of the Four Guards. The position one assumes when one is in the Fool appears that one is in a position from where one is not likely to defend oneself nor able to counter-attack. One thus fools ones opponent by appearing defenceless. We can clearly see the connection between the modern every day use of the word fool and that of the use in medieval combat studies but also the difference in the simple fact that one is a noun and the other a verb. We find another difference between our modern every day use of the word plough and that of the medieval combat school use of the word Plough. In the medieval combat school context the word Plough is another one of the Four Guard positions. Again in this context it is a noun and the position one assumes is similar to that of a medieval ploughman. Our modern everyday use of plough in its noun form is to describe the actual implement we use to plough lands. The connection again is clear but so is the difference. When the Master-at-arms instructs the men-at-arms to use the weak of the blade another example emerges. The weak of the blade as the dialogue explains is the area of the blade between the tip and the middle of the word blade. It is called the weak of the blade because one has very little control and strength when one blocks with that part of the blade. In the context of medieval combat school language the word weak is thus a noun because it is a physical part of the blade but in our modern every day language when we use the word weak it is usually an adjective.

Amongst these same instructions given by the Master-at-arms we find the word Winding. Again Winding in the context of the medieval combat is the name of a block. The name Winding in the medieval combat context is a noun but in our modern every day use it is used in an adjective meaning that something has a curving and twisting shape. The reason why it is called the Winding is the shape ones arms end up in. The arms cross over each other giving it the twisted appearance. The word Wheel is used as a noun (although it can also be used as a verb in our modern every day use) in both the modern every day use and also in the medieval combat studies. The difference is found in the fact that in our modern every day use it is the actual object such as a circular object under a car etc., but the noun Wheel in medieval combat studies derives its name from the circular movement that is preformed by the sword. A similar example would be the Barrier or Fence guard. In modern everyday use the words barrier or fence are nouns and so are they in medieval combat studies but as in the previous example the modern every day use of the word fence and barrier is used to represent the actual object but in medieval combat studies it represents a defensive position. When we look at the word bachelor it is a modern every day word, but the word was used in a different sense in medieval times and it also has a different meaning in our modern medieval combat studies. A bachelor today is someone who has never been married but in medieval times a bachelor was a young knight. Thus, in our modern medieval combat studies we use the term bachelor for a young man-at-arms with a knightly rank, which he earned at tournaments. We have all come across the phrases pommel to death. It has its origins from medieval combat. As mentioned in the dialogue the pommel was an essential part of the sword and could be used to strike your opponent with. The phrase was created in

early medieval times and is still in use today. The meaning is still similar but for the slight difference that in modern every day use one would rather use you fists than the back of a sword to pommel someone. The ancient meaning from medieval times is however still in the same use in our modern medieval combat studies, it has not changed in meaning or in practice. The next phrase is to get the upper hand. We know the phrase to mean that one has an advantage over someone or something else. It can be used in any sense, from two political candidates trying to get the upper hand over each other through speeches to actual physical contest such as a wrestling match between two men. To get the upper hand was another phrase that was developed in the medieval period from medieval combat studies. It meant that one had to try and get the opponents blade under yours while the blades are locked together. If you succeed your hands would automatically be in a higher position than that of your opponent. Once again we see the meaning of the phrase being extended over a period of time so that it is not just limited to sword fighting. In our medieval combat studies however the phrase has the exact meaning it had in medieval times.

Findings in my second study made it clear that it is not only in certain words that we find difference between modern every day language and that of the language used in medieval combat studies but also in the tone. When we look at the dialogue we can clearly see through, militaristic titles, the commands and orders issued by the Masterat-arms and the fast ordered response of the men-at-arms that the tone is authoritative. The atmosphere is very militaristic. Compared to our modern every day use of language it differs night and day, since the militaristic sphere is restricted to the military and police. It is true that modern every day life has its authority situations

such as parents over children, teachers over the kids in class but in most circumstances it is not militaristic. All the members of the medieval combat associations language tone is one that is very casual but once the training session is in order our use of tone changes from casual to one that is militaristic.

Conclusion:
The conclusion that I could draw from the studies I made was that language is subject to change when it is used in different context. Meaning of words has the potential of changing when they are used in different context. It is not only the meaning of words that is subject to change but also the rules of language itself; words that would be used as verbs in one language context can change to nouns once placed in a different context. We also saw that the tone of language differs once used in a different context. It is thus clear that language is dependent on the context it is used in.

Bibliography
Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 6th Edition David Lindholm & Peter Svrd; Sigmund Ringecks Knightly art of the Longsword