Yataghan

[tom hyle]

Yes, that's exactly correct; it is not an army yatagan; it is not an issued yatagan. Now, it could easily be a private issue weapon that was carried by a soldier; it could even be a weapon of strictly military form that was privately sold to a soldier. The idea that military weapons are intrinsically/legally different than civillian arms is by no means universal. The issuing of standardized arms is by and large a fairly new thing; most soldiers throughout history have armed themselves, usually in accordance with some sort of requirements/regulations/traditions. Only very recent, and still quite isolated and poorly accepted, is the concept of actually prohibitting the carrying of non-issued items.