snath
noun/snæθ/
Etymology From a variant of snead, itself from Middle English snede, from Old English snǣd (“the shaft or handle of a scythe”), akin to Old English snīþan (“to cut”). More at snithe.
1
The shaft of a scythe.
- It felt natural to him, holding a scythe in his hands and working with it again […] but the blade clashed on the stone of the foundation and threw a spray of white sparks and broke off close so that he was left holding but the snath.1997, Charles Frazier, chapter 3, in Cold Mountain, London: Hodder and Stoughton, page 71: