The story
- Classical Persian · derived fromشمشیر“sword”
- Italian · borrowed fromscimitarra
- Middle French · borrowed fromcimeterre
- English todayscimitar
First attested in 1548. From Middle French cimeterre (15c.) or directly from Italian scimitarra, possibly from an unknown Ottoman Turkish word, ultimately from Classical Persian شمشیر (šamšēr, “sword”). Doublet of shamshir.
Words from the same roots
Classical Persianشمشیر all →
shamshir
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.