Scimitar

A scimitar is a sword with a curved blade of a design finding its origins in western Asia (Middle East).

The name can be used to refer to almost any Arabian sword with a curved blade. The word "scimitar" is possibly a derivative from the Persian 'shamshir'.

Scimitars in history
Apparently the scimitar started playing a sometimes significant role in Middle Eastern warfare more than two millennia before the advent of Islam. Famed scholar Zahi Hawass asserts that the Ancient Egyptians of the 18th Dynasty (circa 1600 B.C.) used new weapons technologies borrowed from the Hyksos, including "the scimitar" as important tools in fostering Egypt's regional domination which characterized much of the New Kingdom period (p 21-22). Some might judge the Hawass' use of the term anachronistic but nonetheless this provides evidence for the use of something akin to the scimitar in well before the development of the Persian shamshir.

Many Islamic traditions adopted scimitars, as attested by their symbolic occurrence, e.g. on the Coat of arms of Saudi Arabia or the traditional surik in the Coat of arms of East Timor.

The scimitar in fiction and popular culture
In fiction, warriors of Middle Eastern or Asian cultures often use scimitars, for example the character Yellow Robe in Journey to the West.

Scimitars are also commonly used when the inclusion of a fairly exotic weapon is desired by authors of fantasy fiction and role-playing games. The Calormen warriors and royalty fight with scimitars in C. S. Lewis The Chronicles of Narnia, as does Prince Borric, the main character in Raymond E. Feist's Prince of the Blood. Fantasy author R.A. Salvatore's dark elf protagonist Drizzt Do'Urden wields a pair of enchanted scimitars.