Dictionary

yataghan en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈjætəɡæn/

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish یتاغان (modern Turkish yatağan), related to Old Turkic [script needed] (yat-, “to bend, incline; to lie”), whence also words like yatmak (“to lie”), yatak (“bed”), yatay (“horizontal”), etc.

Meanings

1. A type of sword used in Muslim countries from the mid-16th to late 19th centuries.
   • 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 [...]. 1855, Sir Richard Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah, Dover, published 1964, page 22:
   • 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.” 1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate, published 2006, page 1041:

Forms

Synonyms

Turkish sword

Translations (22)

io yatagano (type of sword) · ja ヤタガン (type of sword) · ru ятага́н (type of sword) · pt iatagã (type of sword) · be ятага́н (type of sword) · tr yatağan (type of sword) · hu jatagán (type of sword) · mk ја́таган (type of sword) · fr yatagan (type of sword) · nl jatagan (type of sword) · hy յաթաղան (type of sword) · uk ятага́н (type of sword) · cmn 彎刀 /弯刀 (type of sword) · lad yatagan (type of sword) · de Jatagan (type of sword) · ka იატაგანი (type of sword) · pl jatagan (type of sword) · de Yatagan (type of sword) · el γιαταγάνι (type of sword) · es yatagán (type of sword) · bg ятага́н (type of sword) · ro iatagan (type of sword)