saber

Forms

• sabre (UK)

Etymology

It is borrowed from French sabre,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} an unexplained alteration of sable, recorded in the 1630s and in Oudin's dictionary of 1640,^[2][4][8] from German Sabel, a local form of the standard German word, now spelled with an umlaut.^{[2][6][7][8][3]} Merriam-Webster traces the German word to Middle High German sabel (also sebel).^[3] Its further source is disputed.^[2][9] Etymonline, the Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford derive it from Hungarian szablya (“saber”),^[4][7][6] which Etymonline and Klein explain as "a tool to cut with", from szab (“to cut”);^[4][10] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster derive the German word from a Slavic source, compare Polish szabla and Russian сабля (sáblja);^[5][3] Hoad and Ayto leave the choice between Polish and Hungarian open.^[8][9] The OED thinks the ultimate source lies in some eastern language and notes that the Russian word may be from German;^[2] the American Heritage Dictionary suggests a Tungusic origin, perhaps through a Turkic language.^[11] The OED compares Spanish sable with the French form,^[2] and Italian sciabla seems to come directly from Hungarian.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cavalry sword with a curved blade made for cutting: 1680, in Thomas Otway's The Orphan.^[2][5][3] Etymonline dates the word to the 1670s.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as a scimitar or short sword with a convex edge, and supposed it to be of Turkish origin.^[12] Weekley notes that the German word was used of the curved Turkish sword brought from the East around 1500.^[13] In the 19th century saber came to stand for a cavalry soldier (1836) and for military force, as in to rattle the saber (1851); saber-rattling, militarism, is recorded from 1922.^[2][4] The prehistoric saber-toothed tiger was named in 1849 for its long upper canine teeth.^[4][5] From 1910 the word also named a light fencing sword.^[2] The verb is recorded from 1790, in Burke; the earlier adjective sabered, armed with a saber (1760), comes from the noun, not the verb.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 1680 – a curved cavalry sword.^[2][5][3]
• 1760 – sabered, armed with a saber.^[5]
• 1790 – verb, to strike or wound with a saber, in Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France.^[2][5][3]
• 1832 – a tool for skimming molten glass.^[2]
• 1836 – a cavalry soldier.^[2]
• 1849 – saber-toothed tiger.^[4][5]
• 1851 – military force, as in to rattle the saber.^[2]
• 1910 – a fencing sword.^[2]
• 1922 – saber-rattling, militarism.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A heavy cavalry sword with a curved, single-edged blade: The officer drew his saber and charged.^[3][14][2]
2. A light fencing sword with a tapering blade and an arched guard; also the sport of fencing with it.^[3][14][2]
3. A cavalry soldier armed with a saber.^[14][2]

Verb

1. To strike, wound or kill with a saber.^[3][14][2]

Word family

• saberlike

Related words

• sabre
• sabretache
• sabreur

Usage notes

Saber is the American spelling and sabre the British one.^[14][3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins