additional info - Knives have been used as weapons, tools and eating utensils since prehistoric times. However, it is only in fairly recent times that knives have been designed specifically for table use. Hosts did not provide cutlery for their guests in the Middle Ages in Europe. Most people carried their own knives in sheaths attached to their belts. These knives were narrow and their sharply pointed ends were used to spear food to raise it to their mouth to eat. Long after knives were adopted for table use, however, they continued to be used as weapons. Thus, the multi-purpose nature of the knife continued to pose the threat of danger at the dinner table. However, once forks started to gain acceptance as a more efficient way to pick up food, there was no longer any need for the dangerous pointed tip of the 'dinner knife'.