1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Axe

AXE (O. Eng. aex; a word common, in different forms, in the Teutonic languages, and akin to the Greek ἀξίνη; the New English Dictionary prefers the spelling “ax”), a tool or weapon, taking various shapes, but, when not compounded with some distinguishing word (e.g. in “pick-axe”), generally formed by an edged head fixed upon a handle for striking. A “hatchet” is a small sort of axe.