szablya

Sabre (also saber) comes from French sabre, from German Säbel, from Hungarian szablya, likely from a Turkic root *sab- (to cut). The weapon — a curved, single-edged cavalry sword — traveled west with nomadic horsemen from the Central Asian steppe.

The Magyars, Turks, and Mongols all used curved swords optimized for mounted combat. The slight curve allowed a rider to slash and withdraw in a single motion, unlike the straight swords of European knights that could get stuck. The weapon's superiority on horseback was obvious.

Hungarian hussars popularized the szablya across Europe in the 1400s-1500s. Every European army eventually adopted the sabre for its cavalry. The weapon became the cavalry officer's symbol — the saber charge was the most dramatic maneuver in warfare until machine guns made it suicidal.

The word spread into English, French, German, Russian, Polish, and dozens of other languages. Fencing adopted the sabre as one of three competitive weapons. A Turkic word for 'to cut' became one of the most widely borrowed military terms in history.