Pembrokeshire Fencing Club

Fencing Terms

Vocabulary

ABSENCE OF BLADE: fighting without crossing (or touching) blades. Used against an opponent who likes to make attacks on the blade, to take the blade frequently, or to use strong pressures or beats on your blade when preparing his attack. You uncover a line (i.e. leave yourself vulnerable to a thrust in some line such as quarte or sixte) with absence of blade, thereby inviting an attack in that line.

ADVANCE: to step forward.

A PIED FERME: from a static position (without lunging until the final thrust in an attack).

ATTACK ON THE BLADE: a preparation for an attack, using a beat, pressure or froissement.

ATTACK ON PREPARATION: an attack launched when the opponent is making a preparation for his own attack.

BALESTRA: a short jump forward, usually followed by a lunge. An alternative to the step forward, as a means of getting within distance to launch an attack.

BEAT: to strike the opponent's blade sharply with one's own. As opposed to putting pressure on the blade (a steady pressure of your blade on his) or the graze (froissement).

BIND: a preparation of attack which carries the foe's blade diagonally across from a high to a low line, or vice versa.

BREAKING GROUND: in fencing parlance, retiring or retreating. Stepping backward.

BROKEN TIME: a deliberate pause between two moves which would normally follow without a check.

CADENCE: fencing rhythm.

CEDING PARRY: a parry formed by giving way to an opponent who is taking the blade.

CIRCULAR PARRY: parry in which the defender's blade describes a circle to gather the attacker's blade.

COMPOUND ATTACK: an attack of several blade movements, in a series of false attacks or feints. The intention is to draw a premature parry, which will leave the opponent open in some line to a final thrust. Basically, compound attacks are combinations of the four forms of simple attack: straight thrust, simple disengagement, cut-over and counter-disengagement. For example:

• two disengagements constitute a ONE-TWO attack
• a disengagement followed by another disengagement is a DOUBLE
• a disengagement followed by a counter-disengagement is a DOUBLE DEGAGE.

COQUILLE: the bell-shaped guard of a foil or epee.

CORPS A CORPS: when the bodies of two fencers touch. They cannot then use their weapons with full effect.

COULE: a direct thrust. Your blade glides home along the opponent's blade without pressing down.

COUNTER-DISENGAGEMENT: deceiving the opponent with a change of engagement.

COUNTER-TIME: drawing an opponent's stop hit, parrying it and scoring with a riposte.

COVERED: a position of the sword-hand and weapon which closes some line of engagement against a direct thrust. When you are covered in, say, the line of quarte, then your hand and weapon are between his blade and your quarte, so that his thrust in quarte would be blocked by the position of your own blade (and your hand).

CROISE: taking the opponent's blade from a high to a low line on the same side as the engagement - not diagonally, as in a bind.

CUT-OVER: a blade movement, passing your blade over the opponent's blade.

DEROBEMENT: evading a foe's attempts to beat or take the blade while your arm is extended.

DETACHMENT PARRY: a crisp parry, in which your blade quits the opponent's blade immediately that it has deflected it.

DIRECT: an attack or riposte made in the line of engagement.

DISENGAGEMENT: a blade movement, passing your blade under the opponent's blade. This changes the line of engagement.

DOIGHTE: finger play.

DOUBLE: attacking move, during which the blade performs a complete circle to deceive the foe's circular parry. i.e. a disengagement followed by a counter-disengagement.

DOUBLE PRISES DE FER: a succession of takings of the opponent's blade.

ENGAGEMENT: when two fencers cross swords, they are engaging one another. The position of a fencer's sword hand relative to his target is called the line of engagement: they can be engaged in quarte or sixte, etc. Now, when a fencer engages his opponent's blade, he uses his sword-hand and blade to block the opponent's aim at some part (or line) of his body; this is called being covered in that line. Thus one can be engaged in sixte and covered also in the line of sixte.

EN MARCHANT: movement made with one or more steps forward.

EPEE: duelling sword.

EVASION: a disrobement.

FALSE ATTACK: an offensive move not intended to score a hit.

FEINT: a pretence of attack, in order to draw some reaction from the opponent.

FENCING MEASURE: the distance which exists between two fencers.

FINGER PLAY: manipulating the weapon with the fingers (rather than the grip of the fist).

FLECHE: a short quick run, to reach an opponent who is out of lunging distance. A fencer who makes a fleche attack but fails to hit his opponent is off-balance, vulnerable to a riposte or stop hit.

FOIBLE: the half of the blade nearest to the point.

FOIL: the basic fencing weapon.

FORTE: the half of the blade nearest to the guard.

FROISSEMENT: grazing one blade along another

GAINING GROUND: in fencing parlance, advancing.

HIGH LINES: the parts of an opponent's body visible above his sword-hand while on guard.

INVITATION: the intentional opening of a line, to expose some part of your body as a target. You intend by this to get your opponent to attack into the open line, and then you parry and riposte.

IN QUARTATA: side-step. In effect, you remove your opponent's target, while leaving your own point in line to score a stop hit.

INVITATION: opening a line upon oneself, to invite the opponent's attack.

LA BELLE: the deciding hit of a bout.

LINE: in the low lines, the fencer's hand (and blade) is held low; in the high lines, high. The outside lines are those nearest to the sword-arm; the inside lines, those furthest away. Now, imagine that the fencer's torso is gridded off in eighths. Outside and high is the right shoulder (in a right-handed fencer, natch) while inside and low is the left hip. From the right shoulder downward, the grid reads: TIERCE, SIXTE, and then SECONDE, OCTAVE. Octave lies just above the waist. From the left shoulder down, the grid reads: PRIME, QUARTE, QUINTE, and SEPTIME. These eight names are the eight lines of attack.

LOW LINES: the parts of an opponent's body visible below his sword-hand.

LUNGE: Forward movement of body and legs preceded by the straightning of the arm, from the on-guard position. For Highlander watchers: in the Methos fight scene of the Forgive Us Our Trespasses episode, when Methos slips and falls it is during a lunge.

MARTINGALE: loop of tape or string used to prevent a foil flying out of the hand during a bout.

MOLINELLO: a circular cut at the head made from the sabre parry of first.

ON-GUARD position: the basic fencing position, balanced for attack or defence, for advancing or retiring, etc. The fencer stands erect with feet contraposition (i.e. at right angles to one another) and with the right shoulder and right toe pointed toward the opponent. The left foot lies with its heel in the line of the right heel, two foot-lengths behind - that is, about eighteen inches. The sword arm is raised, half-extended with the hand in half-supination. The sword-hand is level with the right breast and the elbow is about a hand's length from the body. The blade follows the line of the elbow. The left arm is raised in a graceful arch. The legs are slightly bent. Note: the heels should always remain in line, whatever foot movements are made.

PARRY: to deflect the opponent's blade. A parry can be circular or lateral.

PASSATA SOTTO: a stop hit favoured by the Italian school. When an opponent attacks in the outside high lines, wait till the last moment and then surprise him by ducking underneath his blade, so that he impales himself on your point. Needs perfect timing to execute.

PHRASE: a sequence of fencing movements exchanged between two opponents, leading up to a hit.

PISTE: the surface upon which one fences. Usually a cork mat

PLASTRON: a hemp undergarment, worn as a safety precaution at epee.

POINTE D'ARRET: attachment to the point of a foil or epee, which electrically registers a hit during a bout.

PRISE DE FER: taking the blade with an envelopment, a bind or croise.

PRONATION: position of sword-hand with fingernails downward. The opposite of SUPINATION.

RASSEMBLEMENT: bringing the leading foot back to the rear foot while rising to full height.

RENEWED ATTACK: offensive movements which are made immediately that the original attack fails. There are three kinds: the REMISE, the REDOUBLEMENT and the REPRISE.

• REMISE: renewal of an attack, in the same line as the original attack and without withdrawing the sword-arm. Will only work against an opponent who has parried or otherwise avoided an attack, but who has then opened a line without riposting (or is making a delayed or compound riposte).
• REDOUBLEMENT: renewed attack with a different blade or arm movement. Will only work against a foe who does not riposte after parrying, or who delays his riposte.
• REPRISE: renewal of attack after returning to the on-guard position.

REVERSE BEAT: a change bear or, at sabre, a beat made with the back of the blade.

RICASSO: the flattened part of the tang of the blade, between guard and cross-bar, of an Italian foil.

RIPOSTE: the offensive move made after parrying. A COUNTER-RIPOSTE is an offensive move made after parrying a riposte or a counter-riposte. In a fencing phrase the first offense after parrying is properly called a riposte and all succeeding ones are counter-ripostes.

SABRE: cut-and-thrust weapon.

SABREUR: duelist with the sabre.

SALLE, SALLE D'ARMES: the fencing studio.

SALUTE: fencers salute each other before putting on their masks, and again (shaking hands afterward) when the bout is finished.

SCIABOLA DE TERRENO: sabre duel.

SENTIMENT DU FER: the feel of the opponent's blade, his style and intentions, through the medium of your own blade against his.

SPRING BACKWARDS: means of getting quickly out of distance after a failed lunge attack.

STOP HIT: a counter-attack meant to halt the development of an opponent's attack.

SUPINATION: position of the sword-hand with the fingernails upwards. As opposed to PRONATION.

TAKING THE BLADE: a preparation for attack by a PRISE DE FER.

TEMPS D'ESCRIME: time taken by a fencer to perform one simple move, ie a blade movement or a foot movement, etc.

TOUCHE: the word used to acknowledge a hit.

TROMPEMENT: offensive blade movements which deceive the opponent's parries.

UNCOVERED: a position of the hand and blade where a line of engagement is not closed.

Last Updated : June 27 2007 @ 12:06 am