page_title: Scimitar
section_title: List of scimitars and other related swords
hierarchical_section_title: Scimitar / List of scimitars and other related swords
caption_attribution_description: Lieutenant General the Hon. Charles William (Vane-)Stewart (later 3rd Marquess of Londonderry) in hussar uniform, wearing the Army Gold Medal which he was awarded in 1810 for the Battle of Talavera, and the Star and Ribbon of the Order of the Bath. There are two versions of this portrait, the "Camden version" (this painting) and the "Londonderry version" (now in the National Gallery, London). The Londonderry version shows less of the figure, while the Camden version is inscribed "Thos. Lawrence Pinx. 1812" on the edge of the cloak and has the star and ribbon of the Bath which Stewart received in 1813 (added later, with underpainting now showing through the ribbon). There is some confusion in the literature about which version of the painting is the one being referred to (especially since Stewart sat for Lawrence for different portraits painted in 1811 and 1818). It was probably the Camden version which was exhibited at the RA in 1813, the Londonderry version being painted afterwards.
context_page_description: In English the word scimitar refers to a backsword or sabre with a curved blade. Adapted from the Italian word scimitarra in the mid 16th century from an unknown source, the word became used for all 'Oriental' blades which were curved, compared to the more commonly straight and double edged European swords of the time. This is apparent in Thomas Page's The Use of the Broad Sword. Published: 1746:
  "The Sword was of enormous length and breadth, heavy and unweildy, design'd only for right down chopping by the Force of a strong Arm; till Time and Experience discovering the Disadvantages, by Degrees contracted its Length and lighten'd its Weight in to the more handy Form of the Scymitar; which was first invented by the Eastern Nations, and has continued to be their principal Weapon to this Day:....""The Saracens, Turks and Persians, made use of but three different Throws with the Scymitar, and one of those, only on Horseback; the other two on Foot."
  Thus did scimitar originally refer to a broad family of swords, of which there are now identified many individual types.
context_section_description: Many swords are related to the scimitar
  Aldaspan (Kazakh language) is a kind of heavy sabre that was used by Turkic tribes in Eurasia.
  Alfanje is a type of Spanish swords. From The Arabic al-janyar "dagger". See Arabic language influence on the Spanish language
  Firangi
  Flyssa (19th-century Algeria)
  Kampilan a single-edged long sword, used by Philippine Moros.
  Karabela was a type of Polish sabre (szabla). It was popular in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 1670s.
  Kaskara (19th-century Sudan)
  Mameluke sword (18th- to 19th-century Egyptian) and modern French, British and American Armies.
  Mohannad an Arabic name of a famous sword type.
  Nimcha (18th-century Morocco)
  Pulwar (Afghanistan) a single handed curved sword from Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is the traditional sword of the Pashtun people.
  Sabre
  Shamshir (Persia)
  Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar
  Shashka
  Shotel (Ethiopian scimitar)
  Swiss sabre
  Sword of King Carol I of Romania
  Sword of Osman was an important sword of state used during the coronation ceremony of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire.
  Szabla the Polish word for sabre. It specifically refers to an Eastern European one-edged sabre-like mêlée weapon with a curved blade and, in most cases, a two-bladed tip called a feather (pióro). It appeared in the 14th and 15th centuries. Until the 19th century, it served as a symbol of the nobility (szlachta) in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
  Takoba (Tuareg sword)
  Talwar (North India) a type of curved sword or sabre from the Indian sub-continent, found in the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
  Zulfiqar is the sword of Caliph Ali.
caption: Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, with a scabbarded kilij of Turkish manufacture (1812).
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