weapon

Weapon comes from Middle English wepen, from Old English wǣpn, from Proto-West Germanic *wāpn, from Proto-Germanic *wēpną. Its ultimate source is unknown, though it may trace back to a Proto-Indo-European root *wēbnom.

The word has stayed remarkably stable in form and meaning across the Germanic languages, always pointing to a tool of combat, though in some of its cousins it drifted sideways into a related but different idea.

In German, the same root split into two words: Waffe, meaning weapon, and Wappen, meaning coat of arms — a reminder that heraldic emblems once grew out of the tools of war themselves. Dutch, Danish, and Swedish show the same double meaning in their own words for weapon and coat of arms.