Curtel

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of short sword or dagger once favored in medieval times ; a kind of garment or cloak cut short in length ; an obsolete spelling for "curtal," referring to anything reduced or abridged
2. A name for a sheared or abbreviated weapon such as a short-bladed sword ; an item of clothing that has been made deliberately short ; an archaic variant of a word indicating something curtailed or diminished
3. An old term for a compact blade used for self-defense in earlier centuries ; a shortened outerwear piece, like a cape, that ends above the knees ; a historical spelling variant of a word meaning lessened or shortened

Etymology: The word "curtel" is an older spelling of "curtal," and its story runs through French. It comes from older French "courtault," the modern "courtaud," built from "court," meaning "short," with the suffix "-ault," which carried a slightly pejorative, somewhat mocking flavour. So at root the word describes something cut short, or something stubby and squat. That single idea, shortness, explains all three of its senses. A short sword or dagger was the "stubby" weapon as opposed to a long blade, and a cloak or garment cut to a short length was simply a shortened one. The sense of anything reduced or abridged follows the same logic: something has been shortened from its full form.