taporæx

From Old Norse taparøx (“small axe”),^[1][2][3] from Old East Slavic топоръ (toporŭ), from Proto-Slavic *toporъ, probably from an Iranian language.

Judging by dictionaries, the axe is only mentioned as tool to define shore width by throwing it from a ship that is floating next to shore during high tide (Danish king Cnut gave to Christ Church at Canterbury the Sandwich port and landings along River Stour from Sandwich to the river mouth).^[4][5][6]

Compared with francisca (throwing axe)^[7] and also:

• Axe 1 and axe 2 (600±100 AD) from Ozengell cemetery, Kent (fig. 1 and 2 in Hewitt,^[7] No. 1 in Archaeologia^[8])
• Axe from grave at Coombe, Kent (No. 2 in Archaeologia^[8])
• Axe from Richborough Castle field, Kent (No. 3 in Archaeologia^[8])
• Small iron axe from Colchester, Essex ("Small axe" in Archaeologia,^[8] No. 2 in Akerman^[9])
• Axe (?950±150 AD) from River Thames at London (No. 1 in Akerman^[9])

taporæx f

1. securis parvula
   • “(xxxiii) ꞇapeꞃ æx”, in The Parker/Winchester Chronicle (MS 173)‎ (in Old English), (Can we date this quote?), page 67:

     ealla þa ᵹeꞃıhꞇa þe þaꞃ oꝼ aꞃıꞅað·oꝼ æıðꞃe healꝼe ðaꞃe hæꝼene·ꞅƿa ꝥ loc ƿhenne ꝥ ꝼloꞇ bi·þ ealꞃa hehꞅꞇ 7 ealꞃa ꝼulloꞅꞇ ^beo an ꞅcıp ꝼloꞇıᵹenꝺe ꞅƿa neh þan lanꝺe ꞅƿa hıꞇ ni·xꞇ [mæ]ᵹe 7 þaꞃ beo an mann ꞅꞇanꝺe on þan ꞅcıpe 7 habbe ane ꞇapeꞃ æx on hıꞅ [hanꝺa]

     ealla þa gerihta þe þar of arisaþ of æiþre healfe þare hæfene, swa þæt loc whenne þæt flot byþ ealra hehst 7 ealra fullost ^beo an scip flotigende swa neh þan lande swa hit nyxt mæge 7 þar beo an mann stande on þan scipe 7 habbe ane taper æx on his

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

     (literally, “all the right(s) that there from _theyarise, from? each _Dsgside _Dsgthe _Dsgharbor, so that enclosure when the water? _itis _Gplall highest 7 _Gplall fullest be a ship floating as near _Dsgthe _Dsgland as nearest can 7 there be a man stand on _Dsgthe _Dsgship 7 have a taper axe in his ”)

   • “(line 7) ſecuriſ paruula, ꞇaꝑ eax (taper eax)”, in Stowe Ch 39 (in Latin), 1125±25

     quă longĭuſ de nauı poꞇeſt ſecurıſ paruula quă anglı uocanꞇ ꞇaꝑ eax ſuꝑ ꞇerram ꝑıcı

     quam longius de navi potest securis parvula quam angli vocant taper eax super terram proici

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • “(line 6) ſecurıſ paruula (securis parvula)”, in Gospels of Macdurnan (MS 1370) (in Latin), (Can we date this quote?)

     quă longıuſ de nauı poꞇeſt ſecurıſ paruula ſuꝑ ꞇerră ꝑıcı

     quam longius de navi potest securis parvula super terram proici

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • “(line 9) ꞇapeꞃæx (taperæx)”, in Chartae Antiquae S 260 (CCA-DCc-ChAnt/S/260) (in Old English), ?1066±33

     ſƿa ꝥ ðonne hıꞇ bıð ꝼull ꝼlóꝺ 7ꝥ ſcıp bıð aꝼloꞇe. ſƿa ꝼeoꞃꞃ ſƿa mæᵹ an ꞇapeꞃæx beon ᵹeƿoꞃpen uꞇ ðă ſcıpe up on ꝥ lanꝺ

     swa þæt þonne hit biþ full flōd, þæt scip biþ aflote, swa feorr swa mæg an taperæx beon geworpen ut þam scipe up on þæt land

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

     (literally, “so that when it is full ?water, the ship is afloat, as far as _I/it/he/shecan a taperæx be thrown out _Dsgthe _Dsgship up on the land”)

Strong i-stem:

• tapor (“taper (thin candle)”)
• æx (“axe”), handæx

• Charles Plummer (1865) chapter 1031, in Two of the Saxon chronicles parallel with supplementary extracts from the others. On the basis of an edition by John Earle., Oxford: Clarendon press, page 158
• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “tapor-æx”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 972.
• Ferdinand Holthausen (1934) Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, page 343
• Timothy Graham (2003) “King Cnut's Grant of Sandwich to Christ Church, Canterbury: A New Reading of a Damaged Annal in Two Copies of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle”, in Unlocking the Wordhord: Anglo-Saxon Studies in Memory of Edward B. Irving, Jr, Toronto/Buffalo/London: University of Toronto Press, page 172