Talk:Mordhau (weaponry)

Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being by another. It does not apply to combat. -- Matthead discuß!     O       02:59, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

yes, well, that's still what the move is called, for some reason or other. Fwiiw, Forgeng et al. (the English language glossary of German school terms) have "Murder-Stroke". dab (𒁳) 09:11, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Well then. Could someone reimplement it?Rex 10:55, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There was a time, before "political correctness" and the modern definition of "murder", when it meant killing someone suddenly with an unexpected blow or from concealment, lawfully or unlawfully, usually in the sense of military combat. Compare "murder holes" which would be somewhat difficult to use to commit a murder in the modern sense of the word. Regardless, and despite Stephen Colbert's claim that Wikipedia is a bastion of "truthiness", we don't vote on the facts; the technique is called a murder-stroke whether you like it or not. Voicing your outrage isn't going to change it unless you have a time machine and the ability to be very persuasive. 12.22.250.4 21:51, 17 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I take some degree of issue with another facet of the translation: "Mordhau, alternatively Mortschlag or Mordstreich (Ger., lit., "murder-strike", "murder-impact", "murder-caper", respectively)". Strike is a bit too controlled to represent "hauen", although it would be a good translation for "schlag". Hauen is more like "to bash" or "to pound", and, at least on http://dict.leo.org, "to strike" is a direct translation for "schlagen". Lastly, "caper" seems like an odd term for a combat move (if it was historically used in English, then I would defer to someone versed in the subject (being myself only versed in German language, with only a cursory knowledge of German history)). "Streichen" is more closely translated as "strike" as well...for example, in English: "let that be stricken from the record"...etymologically comes from "streichen". I won't personally edit the entry (except that Mort is not German, but Latin...changing the "t" to "d"), but I would encourage anyone reviewing this article to do so at their discretion, with consultation of a proper English-German dictionary. However, Mord is most definitely "murder", and in the same context as "murderhole", and I thusly concur with the previous post's criticism of the word mincing. The etymology of the word supports its use in this context, despite that the capital crime of the same name is unrelated to warfare or swordsmanship. 74.7.55.66 (talk) 22:49, 13 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hau is consistently translated as cut or strike by Forgeng, Tobler, and Svard & Lindhold. It's most common use in German fechtbuch is for basic cutting attacks with the edge of the sword. Clearly "bash" and "pound" are very poor translations for cutting actions with the edge of the sword. I agree that hau doesn't translate real well into English. Also is the dictionary you cite a modern German to English dictionary? Mercutio.Wilder (talk) 07:24, 14 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I believe "hau" would be best translated as the common use of an axe, a "chop", rather than the "cut" more associated with swords or knives. I'm basing this on a similarity between the German "hauen" and the Swedish "hugga", an acceptable translation of "hauen". I leave the decision of whether this is a solid enough base for translation to someone more used to Wiki policy. 90.230.157.182 (talk) 20:40, 16 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]