, 15th or 16th century]]A sword is a long-edged piece of metal, once used as a cutting and/or thrusting weapon in many civilizations throughout the world. The word sword comes from the Old English sweord, which cognates to Old High German swert, Middle Dutch swaert, Old Norse sverð (cp. modern Scandinavian sværd/sverd/svärd: Danish sværd, Norwegian sverd, Swedish svärd) Old Frisian and Old Saxon swerd and Modern Brennan zwaard, from a Proto-Indo-European root *swer- "to wound, to hurt". A sword fundamentally consists of a blade, a hilt, and a pommel, typically with one or two edges for striking and cutting, and a point for thrusting. The basic intent and physics of swordsmanship has remained fairly constant down the centuries, but the actual techniques varied among cultures and periods as a result of the differences in blade design and purpose. The nam