شمشیر

See also: شمشێر and شمشير

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Persian شمشیر (šamšir).

Pronunciation

• (educated) IPA^(key): [ʃɛm.ˈʃiɾ]
• (common) IPA^(key): [ʃim.ˈʃiɾ]

Noun

شمشیر • (şemşir, şimşir)

1. sword, sabre

   Synonyms: (sword) سیف (seyf), قلج (kılıc)

Descendants

• → Middle Armenian: շիմշիր (šimšir)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ʃim.ˈʃiɾ]

Noun

شمشیر • (şimşir)

1. alternative form of چمشیر (çimşir, “box tree”)

Further reading

• Kélékian, Diran (1911), “شمشیر”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[1] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 734
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687), “Gladius”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎^[2], Vienna, column 652
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680), “شمشیر”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[3], Vienna, columns 2860–2861
• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “شمشیر”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[4], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1136

Persian

Etymology

From Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (šmšyl /⁠šamšēr⁠/), [Book Pahlavi needed] (špšyl), 𐫢𐫜𐫢𐫏𐫡 (šfšyr /⁠šafšēr⁠/, “sword”). Cognate with Parthian 𐫘𐫜𐫘𐫏𐫡 (sfsyr /⁠safsēr⁠/, “sword”). Compare Iranian borrowings Old Armenian սուսեր (suser, “sword”), Classical Syriac ܣܦܣܝܪܐ (sap̄sērāʾ, “sword”), Jewish Babylonian Aramaic ספסרא, ספסירא (sap̄sērāʾ, “sword”), Ancient Greek σαμψήρα (sampsḗra, “foreign sword”), and possibly Italian scimitarra (“scimitar”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /ʃam.ˈʃeːr/, /ʃam.ˈʃiːr/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʃäm.ʃeːɾ], [ʃäm.ʃiːɾ]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʃäm.ʃeːɾ], [ʃäm.ʃiːɾ]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [ʃäm.ʃeːɾ], [ʃäm.ʃiːɾ]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [ʃäm.ʃeːɾ], [ʃäm.ʃiɾ]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ʃæm.ʃiːɹ]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [ʃäm.ʃeɾ], [ʃäm.ʃiɾ]

• Rhymes: -eːr, -iːr

Readings
Classical reading?	šamšēr, šamšīr
Dari reading?	šamšēr, šamšīr
Iranian reading?	šamšir
Tajik reading?	šamšer, šamšir

Noun

Dari	شمشیر
Iranian Persian
Tajik	шамшер

شمشیر • (šamšēr / šamšir) (plural شمشیرها (šamšēr-hā / šamšir-hâ), Tajik spelling шамшер)

1. sword, scimitar, shamshir

   Synonym: (archaic) سیف (seyf)

Derived terms

• شمشیرزن (šamširzan)

Related terms

• شفشه (šafše), شوشه (šuše, “ingot”).

Descendants

• → Bengali: শমশের (śomośer)
• → Chagatai: شمشیر (šmšyr /⁠šämšīr⁠/)
  • Uyghur: شەمشەر (shemsher)
  • Uzbek: shamshir
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: शमशेर (śamśer)

  Urdu: شَمْشیر (śamśer)

• → Kazakh: семсер (semser)
• → Kyrgyz: шамшар (şamşar)
• → Ottoman Turkish: شمشیر (şemşir, şimşir)
  • → Middle Armenian: շիմշիր (šimšir)
• → Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi script: ਸ਼ਮਸ਼ੀਰ (śamśīr)

  Shahmukhi script: شمشیر (śamśīr)

• → Zazaki: şımşêr

References

• “spsyr”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• MacKenzie, D. N. (1971), “šafšēr”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press
• M. J. Kümmel, "Sprachkontakt und Sprachwandel", 2010, page 33

Urdu

شمشیر

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian شمشیر (šamšēr, “scimitar”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ʃəm.ʃiːɾ/, /ʃəm.ʃeːɾ/
• Rhymes: -iːɾ, -eːɾ

Noun

شمشیر • (śamśīr or śamśer) f (Hindi spelling शमशेर or शमशीर)

1. sword; scimitar, shamshir

   Synonym: تلوار (talvār)

Derived terms

• شَمْشِیْرْ زَن (śamśīr-zan, “swordsman”)
• شَمْشِیر زَنی (śamśīr-zanī, “swordsmanship”)
• شَمْشِیرِ بَرْہَنَہ (śamśīr-e-barahna, “unsheathed sword; a warrior”, literally “naked scimitar”)
• شَمْشِیر کَشِیدَہ (śamśīr-e-kaśīda, “drawn scimitar”)
• شَمْشِیرِ ہِلالی (śamśīr-e-hilālī, “scimitar-shaped crescent moon”)

References

• “شمشیر”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971), “شمشیر”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• Platts, John T. (1884), “شمشیر”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
• “شمشیر”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2026.