Targe shield

Large, bulky shields gave way to a smaller shield called the targe, 24-40cm in diameter. Targes were sometimes integrated with parts of assault weapons, such as sword blades or iron gloves.

The etymology of the word targe is as follows: targe – targum derived from the Arabic dardy, which means shield; Old Franconian targe, Old Nordic targa, Proto-Germanic targo; the latter was, in medieval times, the accepted word for a cavalry shield. In the 18th century, the diminutive version of the shield, i.e. a target, came to mean what it means today, i.e. an ‘object to be aimed at’ in English.