Curtana

Curtana, also Cortana or Courtain, is a Latinized form of the Anglo-French curtein, from Latin curtus, 'shortened', used for a ceremonial type of sword.

Famous curtanas

For the main article see Sword of Mercy

The "Sword of Mercy" or "Edward the Confessor's sword", is a symbolically broken sword that is part of the traditional English regalia, now included in the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.

Curtana was also, according to legend, the sword of Ogier the Dane; it bore the inscription "My name is Cortana, of the same steel and temper as Joyeuse and Durendal."^[1] It is supposed to have originally been Tristan's sword, and gained the name "Cortana" when it was "cut down" to fit Ogier.^[2]

Notes

^ Bullfinch's Mythology, Legends of Charlemagne, Chapter 24
^ Gardner, Edmund Garratt. Arthurian Legend in English Literature. -- Temple Press, Letchworth, Hertfordshire. 1930. -- p. 172. Retrieved 6 December 2010.

Sources and references

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.