Surviving sharpened examples point to actual use as weapons, but their rarity, and the training necessary to use them, strongly suggest that they were only rarely used as such.
On one hand, this does point out that there is at least some evidence suggesting they were actually used as weapons.
On the other hand, this also exemplifies exactly why they were so uncommon. Even if you could use them in combat, I imagine any benefit gained from the hook is drastically outweighed by the extra complications to fighting with it.
Cool as they are, we have very little evidence these were used historically or were actual combat weapons.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hook_sword
Umm…
On one hand, this does point out that there is at least some evidence suggesting they were actually used as weapons.
On the other hand, this also exemplifies exactly why they were so uncommon. Even if you could use them in combat, I imagine any benefit gained from the hook is drastically outweighed by the extra complications to fighting with it.