Etymology Dictionary

SABRE, SABER,  a kind of sword.  (F.,—G.,—Hungarian)   A late word.   'Sable or Sabre, a kind of simetar, hanger, or broad sword;' Phillips, ed. 1706.—F. sabre, a sabre.—G. säbel, a sabre, falchion.   β. Thus Diez, who says that at least the F. form was borrowed from German; cf. Ital. sciabla, sciabola, Span. sable.   γ. He adds that the G. word was also borrowed; and compares Hungarian száblya, Servian sàblja, Wallachian sábie, a sabre.   I find Hung. szablya, a sabre, szabni, to cut, szabo, a cutter, in Dankovsky, Magyar Lexicon, 1833, p. 327.   At p. 862, Dankovsky considers szabni, to cut, to be of Wallachian origin.   Der. sabre-tash, F. sabretache, from G. säbeltasche, a sabretash, loose pouch hanging near the sabre, worn by hussars (Flügel); from G. säbel, a sabre, and tasche, a pocket.