Online Encyclopedia
Make a correction
Your email address will not appear on the site. Note, comments may take some time to be approved.
Back to article:
SCIMITAR
Your email:
Article name:
Article content:
SCIMITAR, the term generally used of all oriental single-edged curved or crescent-shaped swords (see SWORD). The word has appeared in a variety of forms in English, due to Fr. cimetare, It. scimitarra or Span. cimitarra; it has even been corrupted into " smyter," as if connected with " smite." Most probably it represents an early Western corruption of the Persian word for a sabre, shamshir or shimshir, which means literally " lion's claw " (slier, lion, in Hindustani " tiger," and sham, nail, claw).