Yataghan

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈjætəɡæn/

Alternative forms

• ataghan
• yatagan

Origin

Borrowing from tr yataÄŸan,

"yataghan." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary Merriam-Webster. 2008.

from Old Turkic root yat- ("to bend, incline; to lie"),

tr:Nishanyan|yataÄŸan.

whence also words like yatmak ("to lie"), yatak ("bed"), yatay ("horizontal"), etc.

Full definition of yataghan

Noun

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