An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Hellebarte

by Friedrich Kluge

Hellebarte, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German helmbarte, feminine, ‘halberd’; for the second part of the compound see Barte (1). The first component has been ascribed to two sources — to the very rare Middle High German helm, halm, ‘helve, handle,’ which would probably suit, as far as the sense is concerned, helmbarte, ‘an axe fitted with a handle’?. But since helmbarte, in such a derivation, should have halm- as the component, the phonetic relation of the words is in favour of the derivation from hëlm, masculine, hence hëlmbarte, ‘an axe for cleaving the helmet.’ From German the Romance words (French hallebarde) are derived.