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The modern English word pommel derives from Anglo-Norman French pomel, meaning the weighted terminal on a sword handle, which counterbalances the blade.

This is closely connected with the verb "to pummel", meaning to beat someone severely (as if with the blunt end of a sword).

In more recent times the word has also been applied to knobs at the front and rear of saddles; in the medieval period these were not a feature of saddles, which instead had high, curved sections at front and rear shaped to the body of the rider.

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13y ago

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