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Old 8th September 2015, 09:46 PM   #18
Jim McDougall
Arms Historian
 
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Timo Nieminen
Plenty of straight cutlasses out there, too. Curved isn't necessary.

Well noted Timo!
The term 'cutlass' seems often rather collectively applied in many references and contemporary narratives. I think it is much in the same way as many military swords and others are referred to as 'sabres' though their blades are virtually straight. Then there is the term 'scimitar', which is more of a notion than a sword 'type', characteristically an embellished reference to an 'Oriental' curved sabre.

As we discuss many of these sword forms and look to early accounts and descriptions of these by 'term', it can of course be confounding as we cannot be certain the semantics correspond to our modern perceptions.
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