Heraldry

Das Wappen and die Waffe are one word in two dialect forms. Standard German shifted an old p to f after a vowel, which gave Waffe; the northern dialects and Dutch never made that shift and kept wapen. In the Middle Ages the northern form reached High German with the courtly vocabulary of knighthood, and for a long time both forms could mean both things. Only later did German divide them: Wappen took the sign painted on the shield, Waffe kept the sword. English « weapon » is the same word again, with its p intact, so an English reader can see straight through Wappen once it is pointed out. The old link still shows in the verb. A family bears arms with ein Wappen führen, and führen is the same verb German law uses for carrying a gun in public. A coat of arms was equipment before it was an emblem.