long and short of it...

[Eddie Smith]

which are the older terms for the sword's edges; true and false or long and short? I assume long and short is newer, as it fits with sabre's and the shorter false edge. but one site, http://www.hurstwic.org/history/article ... _sword.htm bout 3 paragraphs down on right, insists it is the other way around... I contacted them once, they wont' budge but never gave me sources to back their claim...lol any help on this one?

[Sal Bertucci]

I believe in Ringeck they call it Long and Short (Lindholm translation)

[Jonathan Hill]

For Sabres the sharp part of the back of the blade is called the false edge. In the 15+ manuals I’ve read I haven’t seen it called the short edge once. Also considering that many military Sabres don’t sharpen the blade past the first eight inches, it wouldn’t be logical to call the front long and the back short.

[LafayetteCCurtis]

To put it all in context: does it really matter at all?

[Corey Roberts]

True and False edge are the Italian term for the same thing. You will find most Italian sources referring to them as such. In Italian they are referred to as Filo Dritto and Filo Falso, German sources will refer to them as Long Edge (Lange Schneid) and Short Edge (Kurze Schneid). Neither term predates the other as far as I can tell.