handshake

[captainkirky]

who first thought of greeting someone by shaking the right hand

[dotjhawkes]

There are loads of sites about a handshake, amazing!

The actual beginning of the handshake is as difficult to specifically determine as most events that happened before written history. However, there are many accounts that provide both comedy and insight. One origin offered by Herbert Spencer, in his book THE PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY, is that of two Arabs meeting in a desert. They each reach for the others hand to kiss it in greeting. However, it is an insult to have your hand kissed by another individual, so both men try to withdraw from the lips of the other man. The end result of this meeting is the acceptance by both men that they wouldnt kiss the others hand, and thus they ended up only clasping the hand of the other, and the handshake was born. The mutual acceptance by the two men that the hands wouldnt be kissed shows the equality between the two individuals;

Perhaps a more practical origin of the handshake comes from medieval Europe, where kings and knights would extend their hands to each other, and grasp the others hand as a demonstration that each did not possess concealed weapons and intended no harm to the other . This is a more practical origin of the handshake, because it more closely resembles our current use of the handshake as a way to introduce ourselves to a person and open ourselves up to them for the purpose of interacting. Interestingly enough, the ancient Greeks used it similarly. It was a welcoming sign of friendliness, hospitality, and trust

[snook]

The second part of Dot's answer is what I was going to mention as something I'd heard or read. It was common to wear very big, loose sleeves and shaking a person's hand would allow any concealed weapons to be dislodged, and hence was a show of friendship.

Also (and along the same lines), the benches in the House of Commons are separated by a space which is, I believe, just wide enough so that Members on each side, with swords outstretched, could not reach each other (assuming they stayed on their own side, and if you look, there is a line clearly marked on either side). I've looked, when parliament's been shown on TV, and the width does seem about right, but I don't really know if it's just something that someone made up.

[joko]

same thing really, but also if you have their 'weapon hand' clasped safely in your hand, they cannot suddenly sneakily attack you at point blank range - and neither can you.

similar really to the 'hands up, palms out' gesture used when trying to calm down a volatile situation - to show you mean no harm and can be trusted because you have no weapons or alterior intent

it also applies to the wave - which has a similar intention, but when you are at more than arms length away - you are showing open unarmed hands.

it is usually the right hand as that is usually the 'fighting hand'

[Tatty Rollox]

..... and here is The House of Commons. The two red lines on the floor are two sword lengths plus one foot apart ..........