makhaira

Homer mentions the makhaira, but as a domestic knife of no great size.

The makhaira was also similar, but was intended primarily to be a weapon rather than a tool.

Makhaira entered classical Latin as machaera, "a sword".

Her weapon of choice is a Makhaira, which she also doesn't mind using to slice stacks of toast for her charges.

While Xenophon states that the xiphos was more conventional among Greek armies of his time, he recommended the makhaira for cavalry.

Makhaira (Ancient Greek sabre)

While such a weapon clearly is a makhaira by ancient definition, the imprecise nature of the word as used in the New Testament cannot provide any conclusive answer.

The curve of the original Opinel blade is a Makhaira, while the flared butt at the base of the wood handle is referred to as a fishtail.

In the event of close combat, or in circumstances where the sarissa was impractical, a variety of swords were employed - the classic xiphos, the kopis and the makhaira, for example.

The Koine of the New Testament uses the word makhaira to refer to a sword generically, not making any particular distinction between native blades and the gladius of the Roman soldier.

The precise wording of Xenophon's description suggests the possibility that the kopis was regarded as a specific variant within a more general class, with the term makhaira denoting any single-edged cutting sword.

The word cimiter (scimitar) has at different times referred to a long curved sword used by the Persians and Turks, a smaller curved knife similar to the kopis of the Turks, or makhaira of the Greeks.

Sabre-like curved backswords have been in use in Europe since the medieval period (falchion, paramērion), or indeed since antiquity (makhaira), but the introduction of the sabre proper in Western Europe, along with the term sabre itself, dates to the 17th century, via influence of the Eastern European szabla type.