Helm/Helmet/Cap- what, where & when?

[Geoffrey of Blesedale]

When did the terms Helm, Helmet and Cap come into existance? Can anyone define them as they were used in period, the period such terms were commonly used in, and if those definitions changed?

The terms are often used too freely to describe the same thing.

[Halfdan]

Try looking in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). It traces the origins of words with brief exerpts from the timeframes in which it was used. Any library worthy of the name should have it.

[Egfroth]

The terms are often used too freely to describe the same thing.

Is that really a problem? IMHO it just adds to the richness of the language. I'm sure the same mix happened in the Middle Ages.

I do know that "helm" and "helmet" have a Germanic origin, whereas "cap" comes from Latin (caput=head - from which we also get "captain").

[Geoffrey of Blesedale]

It is a problem when defining the "helm" in the SCA's Rules of the Lists under Presumed Standards.
[quote]1. All “fully armoredâ€

[Konstantin the Red]

I take cuts to the head all the same way, calibrating by noise and by acceleration. Thrusts to the visor, of course, are per SCA rules never called light and thus need never be vicious.

[woodwose]

"open-faced iron helm with a nasal"

that sounds pretty well defined - sounds like one of those norman-conical things with the bit that extends down over the nose... definately does not sound like anything more enclosed like a bascinet or great helm