Yataghan n. (Written also ataghan, attaghan) A long knife, or short saber, common among Mohammedan nations, usually having a double curve, sometimes nearly straight.
... added a good deal to the colonel's reputation; and when we had that affair with the Bedouins at Laghouat we soon saw that he could fight as well as manoeuvre. In the thick of the skirmish one of the rogues, seeing De Malet left alone, flew at him with drawn yataghan, but the colonel just dropped on his horse's neck and let the blow pass over him, and then gave point and ran the fellow right through the body, as neatly as any fencing-master could have done it. You may be sure we thought none the ... — Lippincott's Magazine, December 1878 • Various
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