Scimitar

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Scimitar

A scimitar is a sword

Sword

A sword is a long, edged piece of metal, used as a cutting, thrusting, and clubbing weapon in many civilizations throughout the world. The word sword comes from the Old English language wikt:sweord, cognate to Old High German swert, Middle Dutch swaert, Old Norse sver? Old Frisian and Old Saxon swerd and Dutch langua...
with a curved blade design finding its origins in Southwest Asia

Southwest Asia

Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia is the southwestern subregion of Asia. The term West Asia is sometimes used in the United Nations subregion geoscheme and in writings about the archeology and the late prehistory of the region....
(Middle East

Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
).

The name can be used to refer to almost any Middle East

Middle East

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east....
n sword with a curved blade, and is often thought of as having a ridge near the end. They include Arab

Arab

An Arab is a person who Identity as such on linguistic or cultural grounds. The plural form, Arabs , refers to the Ethnocultural group at large....
ic saif
Saif

A saif also Saif, Sayf, Seif is a curved Arabian sword....
, India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
n talwar
Talwar

A talwar, talwaar, or tulwar is a type of sword, equivalent to the European sabre , originating in medieval South Asia dating back to at least the 13th century....
, Persia

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
n shamshir
Shamshir

A Shamshir is a type of sabre with a curve that is considered radical for a sword: 5 to 15 degrees from tip to tip. The name is derived from Persian language ????? shamshir, which means "sword" ....
, and Turkish

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
kilij
Kilij

The kilij , better known as a Turkish scimitar , is a sword used by the Ottoman Empire and Turkic peoples. These blades were a distinct variation on the dao s that had been used over all the lands touched by the empire of the Khans....
and yatagan
Yatagan

The yatagan or yataghan is a type of Turkey sword used from the mid-16th to late 19th centuries.The history of the yatagan can be traced back to the Bronze Age in Luristan with an almost unbroken line....
, among others.

word "scimitar", known in English since 1548, derived from Medieval French cimeterre (15c.) or directly from Italian scimitarra, of unknown origin.

A possible origin of 'scimitar' is from the Persian

Persian language

Shamshir

A Shamshir is a type of sabre with a curve that is considered radical for a sword: 5 to 15 degrees from tip to tip. The name is derived from Persian language ????? shamshir, which means "sword" ....
.

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Encyclopedia

A scimitar is a sword

Sword

Southwest Asia

Middle East

South Asia

Arab

India

Iran

Turkey

Etymology

The word "scimitar", known in English since 1548, derived from Medieval French cimeterre (15c.) or directly from Italian scimitarra, of unknown origin.

A possible origin of 'scimitar' is from the Persian

Persian language

Shamshir

Middle Persian

Middle Persian is the Iranian languages language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well....
"shafsher" meaning; "lion's claw" (sham = claw, shir = lion), in reference to the sword's curve. However, this is likely a folk etymology, as the word is already attested in Middle persian

Shamshir

Saif
Saif

A saif also Saif, Sayf, Seif is a curved Arabian sword....
(Arab)
Shamshir
Shamshir

A Shamshir is a type of sabre with a curve that is considered radical for a sword: 5 to 15 degrees from tip to tip. The name is derived from Persian language ????? shamshir, which means "sword" ....
(Persian)
Kilij
Kilij

The kilij , better known as a Turkish scimitar , is a sword used by the Ottoman Empire and Turkic peoples. These blades were a distinct variation on the dao s that had been used over all the lands touched by the empire of the Khans....
(Turkish)
Talwar
Talwar

A talwar, talwaar, or tulwar is a type of sword, equivalent to the European sabre , originating in medieval South Asia dating back to at least the 13th century....
(Indian)
Nimcha
Nimcha

A Nimcha is a single-handed sword from northwestern Africa, esp. Morocco. These blades are usually from the late 18th century onwards and are notable for often using older blades....
(Moroccan)
Pulwar
Pulwar

A pulwar is a single handed curved sword from Afghanistan. Taking many features from the swords of neighboring lands, a pulwar might be described as "an Afghani talwar"....
(Afghan)

Scimitars in history

In the form of the khopesh

Khopesh

Khopesh is the Egyptian language name of the Canaanite "sickle-sword" . Its origins can be traced back to 3rd millennium BC Sumer....
, the scimitar started playing a sometimes significant role in Middle Eastern warfare more than two millennia before the advent of Islam. Egyptologist Zahi Hawass

Zahi Hawass

Zahi Hawass is an Egyptians archaeology and List of Egyptologists and the current Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities....
asserts that the Egyptians

Egyptians

Egyptians is the name of the nationality and Mediterranean North African ethnic group native to Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to the Geography of Egypt, dominated by the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the Cataracts of the Nile to the Mediterranean Sea and enclosed by desert both to the Easte...
of the 18th Dynasty

Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt

The Eighteenth Dynasty is perhaps the best known of all the dynasties of ancient Egypt. As well as a number of Egypt's most powerful pharaohs, it included Tutankhamun, whose tomb, uncovered by Howard Carter in 1922, was one of the greatest of all archaeological discoveries, being completely undisturbed by tomb robbers....
(circa 1600 B.C.) used new weapons technologies borrowed from the Hyksos

Hyksos

The Hyksos were an Asiatic people who invaded the eastern Nile Delta, in the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt initiating the Second Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt....
, including "the scimitar" as important tools in fostering Egypt

Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
's regional domination which characterized much of the New Kingdom

New Kingdom

The New Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian History of Ancient Egypt between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt, and Twentieth dynasty of Egypt....
period (p 21-22). Some might judge Hawass' use of the term anachronistic but nonetheless this provides evidence for the use of something akin to the scimitar

Scimitar

A scimitar is a sword with a curved blade design finding its origins in Southwest Asia .The name can be used to refer to almost any Middle Eastern or South Asian sword with a curved blade, and is often thought of as having a ridge near the end....
well before the development of the Persian shamshir.

Many Islamic traditions adopted scimitars, as attested by their symbolic occurrence, e.g. on the Coat of arms of Saudi Arabia

Coat of arms of Saudi Arabia

File:Coat of arms of Saudi Arabia.svgThe Saudi Arabian coat of arms was adopted in 1950. According to the Saudi Constitution it consists of two crossed swords with a palm tree in the open upper space between the blades....
.

The scimitar in fiction and popular culture

Boulanger Gustave Clarence Rodolphe A Tale of 1001 Nights

In fiction

Fiction

Fiction is an imaginative form of narrative, one of the four basic rhetorical modes. Although the word fiction is derived from the Latin fingo, fingere, finxi, fictum, "to form, create", works of fiction need not be entirely imaginary and may include real people, places, and events....
, warriors of Middle Eastern cultures often use scimitars, for example the character Yellow Robe in Journey to the West
Journey to the West

Journey to the West is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Originally published anonymously in the 1590s during the Ming Dynasty, and even though no direct evidence of its authorship survives, it has been ascribed to the scholar Wu Cheng'en since the 20th century....
. In the film The 13th Warrior
The 13th Warrior

The 13th Warrior is a 1999 action film based on the novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park of Jurassic Park . It is directed by John McTiernan, director of Die Hard, and an uncredited Crichton, and starring Antonio Banderas as Ahmad ibn Fadlan and Vladimir Kulich as Buliwyf ....
, Antonio Banderas

Antonio Banderas

'Jos? Antonio Dom?nguez Banderas' , better known as 'Antonio Banderas', is a Spanish people film actor and singer. He began his acting career at age 19 with a series of films by director Pedro Almod?var and then starred in high-profile Hollywood films including Assassins , Evita , Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicl...
' character Ahmad ibn Fadlan

Ahmad ibn Fadlan

Ahmad Patronymic#Arabic Fadlan ibn al-Abbas ibn Ra?id ibn Hammad was a 10th century Arab Muslim Arabic literature and traveler who wrote an account of his travels as a member of an embassy of the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad to the king of the Volga Bulgars, the Kitab ila Malik al-Saqaliba ....
makes a scimitar after finding the Viking

Viking

A Viking is one of the Norsemen explorers, warriors, merchants, and Piracy who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century....
swords too heavy. Also, it has become a stereotype that seafaring pirates favored this type of sword, as seen in numerous stories, television shows and movies.

Scimitars are also commonly used when the inclusion of a fairly exotic weapon is desired by authors of fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of Plot , Theme , and/or Setting . Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of technological and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three ....
fiction and role-playing game

Role-playing game

A role-playing game is a game in which the participants assume the roles of fictional characters. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a role-playing game system of rules and guidelines....
s. The Calormen

Calormen

In C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series of novels, Calormen is a large country to the southeast of Narnia. Lewis derived its name from the Latin calor, meaning "heat"....
warriors and royalty fight with scimitars in C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as Jack, was an academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist....
' The Chronicles of Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 120 million copies in 41 languages....
, as does Prince Borric, the main character in Raymond E. Feist

Raymond E. Feist

Raymond Elias Feist is an United States author who primarily writes fantasy literature fiction. He is best known for The Riftwar Cycle series of novels and short stories....
's Prince of the Blood
Prince of the Blood (novel)

Prince of the Blood is a fantasy novel by Raymond E. Feist. It is the first book of the Krondor's Sons series and was published in 1989....
. Fantasy author R.A. Salvatore's dark elf protagonist Drizzt Do'Urden

Drizzt Do'Urden

Drizzt Do'Urden is a fictional character in the Forgotten Realms setting based on the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Drizzt was originally created by author R....
wields a pair of enchanted scimitars named Icingdeath and Twinkle (the blades are slightly curved). In J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Order of the British Empire was an English people English literature, poetry, Philology, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion....
's The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings is an Epic poetry high fantasy novel written by Philology J.R.R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work....
, most Orcs wield scimitars. Also, in the Redwall

Redwall

Redwall is a series of fantasy novels by Brian Jacques. It is the title of the first book of the series, published in 1986, the name of the Abbey featured in the book, and the name of an Redwall based on three of the characters , which first aired in 1999....
series, the vermins' typical weapon is the scimitar. Scimitars are also a weapon in RuneScape

RuneScape

RuneScape is a Java -based MMORPG operated by Jagex Recognised by Guiness World Records as the world's most popular free MMORPG, RuneScape has approximately fifteen million active Free-to-play and is a graphical game browser-based game with a large degree of 3d rendering....
, an online video game, and can be bought in a shop located in an Arabian styled area. In the games of Prince of Persia
Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia is a platform game, originally developed by Jordan Mechner in 1989 in video gaming for the Apple II, that was widely seen as a great leap forward in the quality of animation seen in Video game....
, the player's/prince's blade is a scimitar. In Diablo II
Diablo II

Diablo II is a sequel to the game Diablo , a dark fantasy-themed action role-playing game in a hack and slash and "Dungeon roaming" style....
, a scimitar is an early weapon, promoting fast attack speed and low damage.

Additionally, the scimitar has been a fairly popular namesake employed by comic book and science fiction writers. A wrestler, a minor Marvel Comics villain

Scimitar (Marvel Comics)

Scimitar is a supervillain in the Marvel Comics.Scimitar is a master of bladed weapons who serves Master Khan....
, and space craft in the Star Trek, Star Wars

Star Wars

Star Wars is an epic film space opera Media franchise initially conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but later had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to distinguish it from its sequels and prequels....
, and Wing Commander universes have all been named after the scimitar.

Jafat also uses a Scimitar

Scimitar

A scimitar is a sword with a curved blade design finding its origins in Southwest Asia .The name can be used to refer to almost any Middle Eastern or South Asian sword with a curved blade, and is often thought of as having a ridge near the end....
in the "Hadrabubdla - Ashti's quest" comics.

The scimitar was also used in Arabia

Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula , Arabia, Arabistan, and the Arabian subcontinent is a peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa and Asia. The area is an important part of the Middle East and plays a critically important geopolitics role because of its vast reserves of petroleum and natural gas....
at gladiator

Gladiator

A Gladiator was a slave, criminal or professional fighter in ancient Rome. Gladiators fought other gladiators, wild animals and condemned criminals, sometimes to the death, for the entertainment of Spectator sport in cities and towns of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, from the 3rd century BCE to the 5th century CE....
ial combat events similar to those of the Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
tradition.

In Vagrant Story

Vagrant Story

is a Japanese-developed console role-playing game developed and published by Square Co. for the Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation video game console in 2000....
, the main character Ashley Riot begins with a scimitar called "Fandango".

In popular culture, the scimitar is depicted as being a broad-bladed, curved sword with a scalloped inner edge.

Sources and references

Hawass, Zahi. (2005). Tutankhamun And the Golden Age of the Pharaohs. Washington DC: National Geographic Society