The
bollock dagger or
ballock knife is a type of
dagger with a distinctively shaped shaft, with two oval swellings at the guard resembling male genitalia (or
bollocks). The guard is often in one piece with the wooden grip, and reinforced on top with a shaped metal washer. The dagger was popular in Flanders, England and Scotland between the 13th and 18th centuries, and in particular the
Tudor period. It was commonly carried by many
Border Reivers, as a backup for the lance and the sword. A large number of such weapons were found aboard the wreck of the
Mary Rose. In use, the bollock dagger was a similar to the Scottish
dirk.
In the Victorian period "prudish" weapon historians introduced the term kidney dagger, due to the two lobes at the guard, which could also be seen as kidney-shaped. (Blair 1962).
The hilt was often constructed of box root (dudgeon) in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the dagger was sometimes called dudgeon dagger or dudgeonhafted dagger in this period.
The bollock dagger is the source of the expression, to get, or give, a "bollocking", meaning to give or receive a severe chastisement.
References
- Blair, C. (1962). European and American Arms c. 1100--1800. B. T. Batsford, London. ISBN T000017733
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