Scimitar (weapon)
The term Scimitar (also ski Mitar or Szimitar ) is from the English adopted general language generic term for oriental saber , single-edged therefore usually slashing and stabbing with a curved blade , the shape of a Near Eastern reveals origin.
Term and usage
Such weapons are more commonly known in German under the unprofessional designations "curved sword" or "scimitar". Sabers are curved by definition , so the term "scimitar" does not seem meaningful and tautological . Under certain circumstances, however, it can be represented if a particularly strong curvature of the blade is to be pointed out. Such is not the case with all oriental saber types. Colloquial terms such as " Turkish saber ", " Saracen saber " or " Mameluke saber " indicate the oriental origin .
The term scimitar is rarely used in German in weapon science publications . A comprehensive term for sabers from the Orient seems to be dispensable here, because there is no overarching oriental type of this weapon with common, uniform identifying features. Usually one speaks therefore either in general terms of a saber, or one uses the unambiguous name of the specific weapon type being dealt with, e.g. B. Dao (Chinese saber), Handschar , Jatagan (Ottoman short saber), Katana (Japanese long sword), Kilij (Turkish scimitar), Nimcha (North African saber), Sarrass (heavy equestrian saber), Saif (Arabic saber), Shashka (Cossack saber ) , Shamshir (Persian saber), Surik (Timorese sword), Talwar (Indian saber) etc.
Word origin
In Italian usage, the word scimitarra or scimeterra appeared in the 15th century as a name for the curved blade weapons used by Turkish soldiers . The expression was probably coined at the time of the conquest of Otranto by the Ottomans (1480); However, the term may also have come to Europe earlier through Italian merchants who had close trade relations with the Levant for centuries . It is unclear where the loan originated. Parallels are not known in either Turkish or Arabic . The etymological origin is also not clearly clarified and can only be assumed. The word probably comes from the Persian shimshīr or Shamshīr ( شمشیر ), which means sword (probably derived from the Middle Persian shafshēr , i.e. "lion's tail"). In Greek the terms σημαντηρα (semantera) and σαμψηρα (sampsera) can be found with this meaning in oriental authors of antiquity . In Latin , the word cymitharra is documented in the "Books of the Things of the Turks" (De Rebus Turcarum Libri) written around 1540 by the ethnographer Christophe Richer , who worked at the court of the French King Francis I , and who uses it as a name for the sword of the Janissaries . The term found its way into the French (cimeterre) and Spanish (cimitarra) languages around the same time and can also be found in the English language in the form scymitar or cymiter from the middle of the 16th century . One of the earliest English documents is the mention of a scimitar in William Shakespeare's comedy The Merchant of Venice (2nd act, 1st scene) from 1595. The term has only recently come into the German language from English (especially through Fantasy literature and computer games ). In a few German sources from the 19th century, the spellings Szimitar and Scimetar are also documented, all of which are translations. In 1853 Auguste Scheibe mentioned “a Scimetar” in her German translation of Charles Dickens ' novel Bleak House .
History of the saber in the Orient
Saber were in the Middle East , North Africa and the Indian subcontinent , in the Ottoman period in the Turkey , on the Balkans and as far as Hungary , widespread and considered as traditional melee weapon of the Muslim East and the Saracens , although the rifle type much older than Islam is . The ancient oriental curved sword made in one piece was used in the 3rd millennium BC. Invented in Mesopotamia and developed into the classical weapon of the pharaoh in Egypt . In this Egyptian Chepesch (also Khopesh ) the basic shape of the saber is already recognizable. The Turkic-Mongolian saber, which is closely related to the Chinese Dao , is also considered to be one of the archetypes to which various cutting weapons commonly used in the Near East and Eastern Europe could go back. One of the reasons why the saber is regarded as a symbol or identification mark of Islamic fighters is that the Prophet Mohammed himself might have fought with such a weapon. For this reason it appears in a number of national coats of arms of Islamic countries, for example in the coat of arms of Saudi Arabia .
Incidentally, the term "oriental saber" or "scimitar" is a collective term for a large number of very different saber shapes. The blades made of oriental damask became particularly famous . Damascus weapons were mainly made in Persia from Indian steel and remained almost a monopoly of the Islamic culture well into the 19th century .
The typical Ottoman saber (Turkish kılıç ) is strongly curved and very wide and therefore rather unsuitable as a stabbing weapon. This classic saber shape with a widening towards the tip (Turkish: jelman ) can, however, contrary to common clichés, only be proven in the late 13th century, in a very timid manner. It only seems to have become widespread in the course of the 14th and 15th centuries. The saber shape previously used by the majority in the Muslim-ruled areas was, on the contrary, tapered towards the tip (and therefore also suitable for stabbing), had no back edge and usually no pommel.
In the 19th century, a number of units of European armies were equipped with sabers of oriental style, especially exotic uniformed formations such as Zouaves or Turkos .
See also
literature
- Manouchehr M. Khorosani: Arms and Armor from Iran - The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period. Legat, Tübingen 2006, ISBN 3-932942-22-1 (including weapons of antiquity).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gerhard Seifert: Sword, rapier, saber: the manifestations of the long handle weapons in Europe presented as a floor plan for collectors and enthusiasts. Publisher H. G. Schulz, Hamburg 1962.
- ↑ As mentioned in the 20th volume of the Antiquitates Judaicae by Flavius Josephus (93 AD).
- ↑ Etymological origin and evidence. In: Collins English Dictionary & Thesaurus , at Bibliomania (English)
-
↑ By this scimitar, | That slew the Sophy, and a Persian prince | That won three fields of Sultan Soliman | …
German translation
With this saber, the | Sophi struck and a Persian prince, | The three times Sultan Soliman defeated | ... -
↑ “ one Scimitar superbly mounted in gold with jeweled handle ” (German: “a Scimetar, richly laid out with gold and jewels”)
Charles Dickens : Bleakhaus im Projekt Gutenberg-DE (archive version). - ^ Wolfgang Zwickel , Achim Lichtenberger : weapons / fortification. In: Frank Crüsemann , Kristian Hunger, Claudia Janssen , Rainer Kessler , Luise Schottroff (eds.): Social history dictionary for the Bible. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2009, ISBN 978-3-579-08021-5 , pp. 626-633 (here: p. 629).