Is it a tool? A defensive weapon? Missile weapon? Eating utensil? Assassin’s symbol? Tent stake? The dagger is all of these things and more and can trace its ancestry back nearly half a million years to when Man first began making stone knives. But, in its capacity purely as a weapon, we need only look nine thousand years in the past for the dagger’s true emergence. It was at about this time, or a little later, that the first metal daggers (of copper) were being constructed. Throughout those next 9 millennia, they were constructed of stone, copper, bronze (a copper alloy of increased strength and hardness), iron and, finally, steel.
Due to the vast period of history in which it existed and the countless cultures by which it was used, the only comprehensive description that we can make about the dagger is that it is a small weapon with a grip suitable for one hand and blade anywhere between 6 and 18 or so inches in length. There are so many variations in size, guard, pommel, and style, that any attempt at further generalizations would be impossible.
For our purposes, we will confine our description to the form with which we are most familiar; a double edged blade that tapers to an acute point with some sort of cross-guard (or quillons) and grip. Blade width and shape can vary greatly; from the thin, triangular, almost ice-pick type found on a 17th century Stiletto to the incredibly ornate, fluted, wide blade of a 15th century Italian Cinquedea (which means “five fingers” in Italian; roughly the width of the blade at the hilt). Dagger pommels may be plain or ornate and appear in almost limitless variety. Likewise, the quillons come in many sizes and styles or may be non-existent all-together.
On stage, one of the most frequently appearing forms is the Left-hand Dagger which was a variation of the Quillon Dagger, so named for its guard that closely resembled the quillons, or cross-bars, found on the swords of the time. Left-hand Daggers (with or without the small protective ring guard on the quillons) were widely in use during the Renaissance, often as companion to the rapier and, oddly enough, were wielded in the left hand! A special form of Left-hand Dagger was the Main Gauche (French for left hand) seen pictured at the far bottom left. The Main Gauche was a weapon used almost exclusively in conjunction with the rapier and was distinguished by its long quillons and curving triangular plate that tapered to a point where it joined the pommel. The grip on a Main Gauche was historically quite short as the thumb was extended along the blade when in use.
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