Merlons
The word comes from the French language, adapted from the Italian merlone, possibly a shortened form of mergola, connected with Latin mergae (pitchfork), or from a diminutive moerulus, from murus or moerus (a wall). An alternative etymology suggests that the medieval Latin merulus functioned as a diminutive of Latin merle, expressing an image of blackbirds sitting on a wall.
As an essential part of battlements, merlons were used in fortifications for millennia. The best-known examples appear on mediaeval buildings, where battlements, though defensive, could be attractively formed, thus having a secondary decorative purpose. Some buildings have false "decorative battlements". The two most notable European variants in Middle Ages merlons shape were the Ghibelline and the Guelph merlon: the former ended in the upper part with a swallow-tailed form, while the latter term indicates the normal rectangular shape merlons.
Merlons
The word comes from the French language, adapted from the Italian merlone, possibly a shortened form of mergola, connected with Latin mergae (pitchfork), or from a diminutive moerulus, from murus or moerus (a wall). An alternative etymology suggests that the medieval Latin merulus functioned as a diminutive of Latin merle, expressing an image of blackbirds sitting on a wall.
As an essential part of battlements, merlons were used in fortifications for millennia. The best-known examples appear on mediaeval buildings, where battlements, though defensive, could be attractively formed, thus having a secondary decorative purpose. Some buildings have false "decorative battlements". The two most notable European variants in Middle Ages merlons shape were the Ghibelline and the Guelph merlon: the former ended in the upper part with a swallow-tailed form, while the latter term indicates the normal rectangular shape merlons.