Almost hate to get in here, what with a heated argument going on.
Has anybody considered that Dan (author of LL) could not just copy the expression of the rule from Moldvay? The text describing the rule is after all subject to copyright, even though the rule itself cannot be copyrighted. So I've always thought it was originally just a case of bad wording in LL.
Maybe it was not worth the author's time later to try to find a better phrase (possibly requiring redoing the layout of pages in the rulebook), because anybody that didn't like it would just change it in play to however they wanted it?
The "spirit of the OSR" is not about slavishly worshiping the RAW, whether of the original games or the clones, as some kind of "holy writ." There are certain factions of "Old School" gamers that do that, but they tend to vehemently try to distance themselves from being identified with the OSR (they were old school before Old School became "cool").
The "OSR" is more like how 25 years ago I made up "Dwarven Crossbows" optimized for underground fighting that had a much shorter range, but did 1d10 damage. Crossbows do way too little damage in most versions of D&D etc., compared to other weapons if you are using any sort of "realism," but I just made up a variant weapon for the game and moved on with play rather than spend a lot of time "rationalizing" why "crossbows suck."
Just make up a "Dwarven Axe." Declare it a "hand-and-a-half" weapon like a Bastard Sword, give it say 1d6+1 damage if wielded 2-handed, make it midway between a Hand Axe and a Battle Axe in weight, heck state that Dwarves must use 2 hands for it if you like (forgoing use of a shield) and move on.
(I also wonder if a lot of gamers confuse the images in their minds the ideas of "Battle Axe" and "Halberd." The big curved blade on a 5-6 foot shaft was a Halberd, a kind of shorter polearm. A "Battle Axe" was probably more like a "Dane Axe," a much larger blade area than a Hand Axe, but mounted on a 3-4 foot shaft. A Hand Axe was essentially a hatchet / tomahawk size axe good for throwing or close-in fighting.)