A thing designed or used for inflicting bodily harm or physical damage.
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Proto-Germanicbefore 900 CEwell-attested
From Old English 'wǣpen' (weapon, arms; also deployed in Old English poetry as a euphemism for the male organ — a usage shared across Old Norse 'vápn' and Old High German 'wāffan,' suggesting the double meaning is proto-Germanic in origin), from Proto-Germanic *wēpną (weapon, instrument of violence). Theword is stable and well-attested across the entire Germanic branch: Gothic 'wepn' (inferred from compounds), Old Norse 'vápn' (weapon — preserved in Icelandic 'vopn' and in the island name Våpnfjörðr, Weapon Fjord), Old High German 'wāffan' (→ modern German 'Waffe'), Old Saxon 'wāpan,' Middle Dutch 'wapen' (→ Dutch 'wapen'), Old Frisian 'wēpen.' However, the word's etymology beyond Proto-Germanic is entirely
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In OldEnglishand Old Norse, 'wǣpen/vápn' was a common poetic euphemism for 'penis.' This secondary meaningwas so widespread that it appears in legal texts and riddles. German 'Wappen' (coat of arms) is thesame word — heraldic arms were literally 'weapons' displayed
'Wappen' (coat of arms) — weapon imagery being the defining symbol of aristocratic identity in the Germanic world. English retains 'weapon' without the heraldic specialisation that Dutch and German developed. Key roots: *wēpną (Proto-Germanic: "weapon").