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Rapiers, by the way, come from a Spanish sword called 'espada ropera,' or dress sword.
They come from side swords, Italian for rapier, 'spada de lato de striscia' is "strip side sword." Strip referring to the width of the blade.
It becomes a rapier instead of a side sword when the blade narrows enough.
Generally, the hilt needs to get fancied up too to be considered a "real" rapier, but there are side-swords and back-swords with equally elaborate hilts.
Wikipedia has a little snippet about where the word rapier comes from.
The narrowing of the blade made them lighter for the same length, thus easier to lug around in social situations.
Some people noticed that you could get more length for the same weight as the old side swords and became tripping hazards at parties.
Eventually the "same length but lighter" school prevailed and the small-sword was invented.
In Queen Elizabeth I's time, there were legal limits on the length of rapier one could carry.
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