scimitar
(ˈsɪmɪtə(r))
Forms: α. 6 cimitarie, -erie, 7 -ary, -ery; 6 semeterrie, -iterie, -orie, 6–7 -arie, scimitarie. β. 6 cemiterre, -are, cimyter, 6–7 cimiterre, cymiter, 6–9 cimiter, 8 -etar, 7 cymitar, -et(t)er, -etre, cemiter, -ar, -eter, 7–9 cimeter. γ. 6 semitor, symitare, 6–7 semitar, 7 -iter(e, -yter, symeter, 8–9 simitar. δ. 7 scindifer, skimiter, scemiter, 7–9 scimiter, scimeter, scymitar, -etar, -iter, -eter, scimetar, 6– scimitar.
[Adopted in the 16th c. in various forms from different Rom. langs. The word appears as F. cimeterre (15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.; also ? sanneterre, ? sauveterre, and 16th c. cimiterre), It. scimitarra (formerly also cimitara), Sp. cimitarra, Pg. cimitarra, semitierra, samitarra. A Turkish origin would be expected, but no likely etymon has been found in that language; the Persian shamshīr, formerly pronounced shamshēr (whence Gr. σαµψήρα ‘a barbarian sword’, Suidas) agrees in sense but is unsatisfactory as to form. The Basque *cimeterra ‘sharp-edged’, has been suggested as the source, but this appears unlikely, and recent Basque dicts. do not give the adj.
In Chr. Richerius Thorigneus De Rebus Turcarum (1540), cymitharra is given as the name by which the Janizaries called their weapon; but this does not prove that the word was Turkish.]
1. a. A short, curved, single-edged sword, used among Orientals, esp. Turks and Persians.
| α a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 6 b, Appareled after Turkey fashion..girded with two swordes, called Cimiteries. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden 8 A trenchant Turkish semitorie. 1603 Florio Montaigne ii. xxvii. 403 By one onely blow of a Cimitary or broade Persian Sword. 1623 Bingham Xenophon 79 With the stroke of a Cimitery. 1623 Cockeram 1, Semitarie, a crooked Sword or Faulchion. |
| β 1579 North tr. Plutarch, Alexander (1595) 751 He..ran sodainly to him with a cimiter drawen in his hand. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. v. 3 Vppon her thigh her Cemitare was tide. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 28 The Patrone..drawing a Turkish Cymiter, beginneth to lay about him. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. xxxiv. 266 They worshipped their tutelar deity under the symbol of an iron cimeter. 1838 Lytton Leila i. ii, The curving cimiter. 1886 Harper's Mag. Feb. 467/2 Shemr raised his glittering cimeter. |
| γ 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. ii. 91 He dies vpon my Semitars sharpe point. 1592 Kyd Sol. & Pers. i. iii. 100 With this Semitor I..Endured some three or foure howers combat. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 53 An vnexpected Semiter..cut off his head. 1662 Evelyn Chalcogr. Table, Damascus Symeters. 1690 Gt. Scanderberg 78 His Semitar had cleaved so fast to his hand in the heat of the Fight, that it could not be pluck'd off. |
| δ 1562 J. Shute tr. Two Comm. ii. 43 The sworde that Scanderbeg strake the beste with was a Scimitar bending lyke vnto a falchion. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iv. vii, If they haue a good skimiter, [they] had rather haue a blow on their arme, then their weapon hurt. 1669 Davenant Man's the Master iv. 57 Suppose that with a Syrian Scemiter,..I were minc'd into a Py. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 82 ¶10 A Scymitar once wielded by a soldier. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. lxvii. VI. 441 In the hands of the Turks, the scymetar was the only instrument of conversion. 1813 Byron Corsair iii. 8 Therefore came I..To smite the smiter with the scimitar. 1832 W. Irving Alhambra II. 64 His scymetar and dagger were of the workmanship of Fez. 1870 Lubbock Orig. Civiliz. vi. (1875) 310 The Scythians worshipped an iron scimetar as the symbol of the war-god. |
b. transf. and
fig.| 1689 Cotton Winter xxxv, And Pendant by their brawny Thighs, Hang Cimetars of burnisht Ice. 1825 Scott Talism. iii, To raise up the scimitar of resistance. |
2. Short for
scimitar razor-shell (see 3).
| 1855 Kingsley Glaucus (1878) 70 The grey scimitars are Solens. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
scimitar-horned,
scimitar-shaped adjs.;
scimitar-babbler, a northern Indian or Australian bird belonging to the genus
Pomatorhinus or
Pomatostomus, and distinguished by a long curved bill;
scimitar-pea, a variety of pea (named from the shape of the pod);
scimitar-pod, the woody legume of the tropical climber
Entada scandens;
scimitar razor-shell, the
Solen Ensis;
scimitar-tree, an evergreen tree of the genus
Harpephyllum.
| 1863 T. C. Jerdon Birds of India II. 31 (heading) The Southern *Scimitar-babbler. 1928 H. Whistler Pop. Handbk. Indian Birds 38 This Scimitar-Babbler is a gregarious species going about in small parties. 1964 R. Perry World of Tiger iv. 58 Such small pests as scimitar-babblers, whose clear ringing cries are audible half a mile away in the hills. |
| 1895 J. G. Millais Breath fr. Veldt (1899) 145 The noble presence of the *scimitar-horned sable antelope. |
| 1844 Stephens Bk. Farm II. 550 The Carolina, blue *scimitar, and blue and green tall and dwarf imperial [peas]. 1856 Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 576 The blue scimitar pea. |
| 1871 J. Smith Domestic Bot. 432 *Scimitar Pods (Entada scandens)... Its large hard-wooded flat pods..resemble a sword or scimitar. |
| 1819 W. Turton Conchol. Dict. 160 Solen Ensis, *Scimitar Razor-shell. |
| 1776 J. Lee Introd. Bot. Expl. Terms 386 Acinaciforme, *scymitar-shaped. 1850 R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (1902) 142/2 Knotted, scimitar-shaped horns. |
Hence
ˈscimitared a., (
a) bearing or armed with a scimitar; (
b) ‘scimitar-shaped, acinaciform’ (
Cent. Dict. 1891).
| 1845 E. Warburton Crescent & Cross II. 280 Turbaned and scimitared servants. 1885 Meredith Diana xxxv, The scimitared Mesrour. |