New word/thing learnt today - a targe

[Montero]

I was doing a word game. The only thing left to fit into the gap was Targe. I tried that and it was accepted. Which left me wondering what a targe was. The answer being a type of shield between 13th and 16th century and the word target is derived from it as a diminutive.

Targe - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Venusian Broon]

I suppose being Scottish I recognised the word Immediately - dirk & targe being the usual close-in arms when Highlanders performed the "Highland Charge". Dirk being a long dagger - was much more effective in close quarters than a long sword in the middle of melee, and a small buckler like a targe helped too.

I believe both weapons were still be used effectively in the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion by the Highlanders, until the British Army under Cumberland effectively ended such tactics using better drilled troops at Culloden.

 

[JunkMonkey]

I once wrote a Scottish/Indian restaurant into a comic. It was called the Targe Mahal. It was next to an Irish/Indian restaurant called Bombay Mick's.