I found this on Miss Snark and it's fascinating. Totally throws away the cliche of the woman grabbing the man's sword and not being able to lift it. Funny how misinformation sneaks into usage and people just repeat it and repeat it without ever checking back to the original source, i.e. going to a museum and actually holding a sword.
http://www.thearma.org/essays/weights.htm
http://www.thearma.org/essays/weights.htm