cutlass

A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword, with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket-shaped guard. It was a common naval weapon during the early Age of Sail. Etymology The word "cutlass" developed from the 17th-century English use of "coutelas", a 16th-century French word for a machete-like mid-length single-edged blade (the modern French for "knife", in general, is "couteau"; in 17th- and 18th-century English the word was often spelled "cuttoe"). The French word "coutelas" may be a convergent development from a Latin root, along with the Italian "coltellaccio" or "cortelazo"; meaning "large knife". In Italy, the "cortelazo" was a similar short, broad-bladed sabre popular during the 16th century. The root "coltello", for "knife", derived ultimately from the Latin "cultellus" meaning "smaller knife"; which is the common Latin root for both the Italian and French words. In the English-speaking Caribbean, the word "cutlass" is also used as a word for machete.<ref>John Klein, "What Is a Machete, Anyway?", "The Atlantic, Oct 21, 2013 (accessed Jan 25 2015)</ref> History and use