Dolk

'n Dolk is 'n tipe tweesnydende mes wat mense vroeër dikwels by hul gedra het vir selfbeskerming.^[1]^[2] Dolke is tydens maaltye ook gebruik om vleis mee te sny. Die gebruik van 'n dolk aan tafel het egter tot 'n einde gekom nadat die Franse kardinaal Richelieu die gebruik daarvan aan tafel verbied het. Die gewone tafelmes is in plek daarvan bekendgestel en sedertdien gebruik.

By die dolk lê die punt van die lem in die verlengde as van die hef van die mes. Die lem is dus simmetries, in teenstelling met 'n gewone mes. Die wapen word gebruik om te steek, te stoot of as sekondêre verdedigingswapen in nabye konfrontasies. Dit is teenswoordig egter 'n wapen wat selde gebruik word.

Net soos die strydbyl is die dolk ontwikkel uit prehistoriese gereedskap. Dolke is oorspronklik van vuursteen, ivoor of been gemaak. Dit word al sedert die vroegste tye van die menslike beskawing as wapen gebruik. Die eerste dolke het in die Bronstydperk in die 3de millennium v.C. verskyn. Die swaard is ontwikkel uit groter dolke, omdat 'n dolk se reikafstand te klein was om effektief te wees teen byle, lanse, pieke en goedendagte ('n tipe wapen wat veral tydens die Slag van die Goue Spore met welslae gebruik is).

In Suid-Afrika is die destydse Eerste Minister, Hendrik Verwoerd, op 6 September 1966 in die Volksraad deur Demetrios Tsafendas, 'n parlementsbode, met 'n dolk doodgesteek.

Dolke vervul in verskeie kulture 'n simboliese funksie, soos byvoorbeeld die Kirpan uit die Sikhisme, wat die draer aan die stryd om regverdigheid en teen onderdrukking moet herinner.

Sien ook

Verwysings

↑ State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-use definition of a dagger, which has been used to describe everything from an ice pick to a folding knife with pointed blade as a 'dagger'. The Missouri Supreme Court used the popular definition of 'dagger' found in Webster's New Universal Dictionary ("a short weapon with a sharp point used for stabbing") to rule that an ordinary pointed knife with four-to-five inch blade constitutes a 'dagger' under the Missouri criminal code.
↑ California Penal Code 12020(a)(24):"dagger" means a knife or other instrument with or without a handguard that is capable of ready use as a stabbing weapon that may inflict great bodily injury or death. The State of California and other jurisdictions have seized upon the popular-use definition of a dagger to classify items ranging from a pointed kitchen knife to a tent stake as a 'dagger' under the law.

[MAR-1] State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-use definition of a dagger, which has been used to describe everything from an ice pick to a folding knife with pointed blade as a 'dagger'. The Missouri Supreme Court used the popular definition of 'dagger' found in Webster's New Universal Dictionary ("a short weapon with a sharp point used for stabbing") to rule that an ordinary pointed knife with four-to-five inch blade constitutes a 'dagger' under the Missouri criminal code.

[CAL-2] California Penal Code 12020(a)(24):"dagger" means a knife or other instrument with or without a handguard that is capable of ready use as a stabbing weapon that may inflict great bodily injury or death. The State of California and other jurisdictions have seized upon the popular-use definition of a dagger to classify items ranging from a pointed kitchen knife to a tent stake as a 'dagger' under the law.

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