I would just like to pour some gas on the fire :-))
Here is an old Flyssa with a relatively short blade that is close to yataghan's. It has an exteremely large and massive integral bolster and a pommel that is a crude but unmistakeable rendition of the karabela-like "eagle head" form so characteristic of North African yataghans. Spring in his book about African weapons refers to Flyssa's pommel as resembling animal head and mentions previous attempts to attribute it to eagles, ducks and dogs.
I would venture to support the " eagle" origin, although perhaps it is "bass ackward": it may be just a simplified karabela pattern that we read as resembling an eagle:-)
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