Editing Sabre (section)

===Early modern period===
[[File:Joanovitch Paul (1859–1957) The Sword Dance, Private Collection.jpg|thumb|''[[Sword dance|The Sword Dance]]'' (1890) by [[Paja Jovanović]]]]
[[File:Mzwdr XXXX ml 008.jpg|thumb|right|175px|A ''[[szabla]]'' used by [[Polish Hussars]], 17th century]]
{{Further|Swiss sabre|Dusack}}
The introduction of the sabre proper in Western Europe, along with the term ''[[:wikt:sabre|sabre]]'' itself, dates to the 17th century, via the influence of the ''[[szabla]]'' type ultimately derived from these medieval backswords. The adoption of the term is connected to the employment of Hungarian [[hussar]] (''huszár'') cavalry by Western European armies at the time.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} Hungarian hussars were employed as [[light cavalry]], with the role of harassing enemy [[skirmisher]]s, overrunning artillery positions, and pursuing fleeing troops. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, many Hungarian hussars fled to other Central and Western European countries and became the core of light cavalry formations created there.<ref>[[Bavaria]] raised its first hussar regiment in 1688 and a second one in about 1700. [[Prussia]] followed suit in 1721 when [[Frederick the Great]] used hussar units extensively during the [[War of the Austrian Succession]]. France established a number of hussar regiments from 1692 onward, recruiting originally from Hungary and Germany, then subsequently from German-speaking frontier regions within France itself. The first hussar regiment in France was founded by a Hungarian lieutenant named [[Ladislas Ignace de Bercheny]].
[http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/thou/thou12.htm Hungarian-history.hu] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415135710/http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/thou/thou12.htm |date=15 April 2008 }}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=September 2015}} The Hungarian term ''szablya'' is ultimately traced to the [[Kipchak languages|northwestern Turkic]] ''selebe'', with contamination from the Hungarian verb ''szab'' "to cut".<ref>{{cite journal |author=Marek Stachowski |title=The origin of the European word for sabre |journal=Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia |volume=9 |location=Krakow |year=2004 |url=http://turkoloji.cu.edu.tr/CAGDAS%20TURK%20LEHCELERI/2004%20Sabre,%20SEC-9.pdf }}</ref>

The original type of sabre, or Polish ''szabla'', was used as a [[cavalry]] weapon, possibly inspired by Hungarian or wider [[Turco-Mongol]] warfare.

The ''[[karabela]]'' was a type of ''szabla'' popular in the late 17th century, worn by the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] nobility class, the ''[[szlachta]]''. While designed as a cavalry weapon, it also came to replace various types of straight-bladed swords used by infantry.<ref>Alaux, Michel. ''Modern Fencing: Foil, Epee, and Sabre''. Scribner's, 1975, p. 123. {{ISBN?}}</ref> The [[Swiss sabre]] originated as a regular sword with a single-edged blade in the early 16th century, but by the 17th century began to exhibit specialized hilt types.

====Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth====
{{main|Szabla|Karabela}}
In the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (16th–18th century) a specific type of sabre-like melee weapon, the ''szabla'', was used. Richly decorated sabres were popular among the [[Szlachta|Polish nobility]], who considered it to be one of the most important pieces of men's traditional attire. With time, the design of the sabre greatly evolved in the commonwealth and gave birth to a variety of sabre-like weapons, intended for many tasks. In the following centuries, the ideology of [[Sarmatism]] as well as the Polish fascination with [[Orient]]al cultures, customs, cuisine and warfare resulted in the ''szabla'' becoming an indispensable part of traditional Polish culture.