English

yataghans

Alternative forms

• ataghan
• yatagan

Noun

yataghan ‎(plural yataghans)

1. A type of sword used in Muslim countries from the mid-16th to late 19th centuries.
   • 1855, Sir Richard Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah, Dover 1964, p. 22:

     The angry-faced official communicated the intelligence to a large group of Anadolian, Caramanian, Bosniac, and Roumelian Turks,— sturdy, undersized, broad-shouldered, bare-legged, splay-footed, horny-fisted, dark-browed, honest-looking mountaineers, who were lounging about with long pistols and yataghans stuck in their broad sashes [...].

   • 1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate 2006, p. 1041:

     A Montenegrin perceived it and ran immediately to him and drew his yataghan, saying, “You are very brave, and must wish that I should cut off your head rather than that you should fall into the hands of the enemy.”

Synonyms

• Turkish sword

Translations

References

1. ↑ "yataghan." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary Merriam-Webster. 2008.
2. ↑ Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “yatağan”, in Nişanyan Sözlük.