Editing Spatha (section)

==Etymology==
The word comes from the [[Latin]] ''spatha'',<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dspatha spatha], Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, ''A Latin Dictionary'', on Perseus Digital Library</ref> which derives from the [[Greek language|Greek]] word ''{{lang|grc|σπάθη}}'' (''spáthē''), meaning "any broad blade, of wood or metal" but also "broad blade of a sword".<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dspa%2Fqh σπάθη], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library</ref>

The Greek word {{lang|grc|σπάθη}} was used in the middle [[Archaic Greece|archaic period]] for various types of [[Iron Age sword]]s. The word does not appear in [[Homeric Greek]], but it is mentioned in the works of [[Alcaeus of Mytilene]] (sixth century BC)<ref>"Χαλκίδικαι σπάθαι" (''Chalcidian spathai''), Alcaeus, 15.6</ref> and  [[Theophrastus]] (fourth century BC).<ref>Theophrastus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0093,009:25:4&lang=original ''Characters'', 25.4], original Greek text, on Perseus Digital Library</ref>

It is likely that ''spatha'' is the [[romanization]] of the [[Doric Greek]] word σπάθα (''spáthā'').<ref>recorded in the accusative plural, as σπάθας (''spáthās''). AP6.288 (Leon.) LSJ, s.v. "σπάθη".</ref> The word survives in Modern Greek as {{lang|el|[[:wikt:σπάθη|σπάθη]]}} and {{lang|el|[[:wikt:σπαθί|σπαθί]]}}. The Latin word became the French ''[[:wikt:épée|épée]]'', Catalan and Occitan ''[[:wikt:espasa|espasa]]'', Portuguese and Spanish ''[[:wikt:espada|espada]]'', Italian ''[[:wikt:spada|spada]]'', Romanian ''spadă'' and Albanian ''[[:wikt:shpata|shpata]]'', all meaning "sword". The English word ''[[:wikt:spatula|spatula]]'' comes from Latin ''spat''(''h'')''ula'', the diminutive of ''spatha''. English [[:wikt:spade|spade]], from Old English ''spadu'' or ''spædu'', is the Germanic [[cognate]], derived from a [[Common Germanic]] ''*spadō'', ultimately from a [[Proto-Indo-European]] stem ''*sph<sub>2</sub>-dh-''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Villamor|first=Fernando|title=2500 Pie Roots Deciphered|publisher=Getafe|year=2017}}</ref>