Although you and I may associate "swashbuckling" with pirate stories and Hollywood movies, the term was originally anything but complimentary. A "swashbuckler", when the word first appeared around 1560, was swaggering braggart, bully or ruffian. "Swashbuckler" actually came from the antiquated words "swash" (to make a noise by striking) and "buckler" (shield).
A "swashbuckler" was originally a mediocre swordsman who compensated by making a great deal of noise, strutting through the streets banging his sword on his shield, challenging passersby to duels, and just generally acting like a jerk.
Although the real swashbucklers were mostly cheap bullies, swashbuckling got a romantic spin in popular adventure novels, and later in dozens of Hollywood "swashbucklers", pirate movies starring the likes of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Errol Flynn. Thanks to this movie magic, "swashbucklers" were transformed from loudmouthed losers into daring adventurers.
Written by Rob Ossian, "The Pirate King"
(Faces in the filmstrip: Henry Daniell, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, Stewart Granger, Alan Hale.)
