The article attempts to describe the ways of translating the names of weapons into Russian, which were used by the Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz in his historical novel “Pan Wołodyjowski”. The variety of Polish names of cold weapons, which the characters of the novel used, had to receive a corresponding translation into Russian. In the article by comparing fragments of Polish and Russian texts featuring such units, it is shown how the terms of the given thematic group were translated into Russian. It is noted that these units are able to reflect the colouring of the author`s language and the region the action takes place in. In many cases these borrowings as well as other foreign-language inclusions are the findings of a translator, and often have the character of innovation in Russian language text.