William J. Hamblin and A. Brent Merrill provide some proposals as to what Mesoamerican weapon was the Book of Mormon "cimeter."

Date
1990
Type
Book
Source
William J. Hamblin
LDS
Hearsay
Direct
Reference

William J. Hamblin and A. Brent Merrill, “Notes on the Cimeter (Scimitar) in the Book of Mormon,” in Warfare in the Book of Mormon, ed. Stephen D. Ricks and William J. Hamblin (Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1990), 360-64

Scribe/Publisher
Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Deseret Book
People
William J. Hamblin, A. Brent Merrill
Audience
Reading Public
PDF
Transcription

To what Mesoamerican weapon could the Book of Mormon authors have been referring with the word cimeter? Since evidence on this matter is spare and ambiguous, the following discussion should be viewed as preliminary speculations.

. . .

There is artistic and literary evidence showing that the early Maya used severed jaguar claws mounted on sticks as weapons (see fig. 2) and fashioned imitation jaguar claws from stone and wood (see fig. 3). Similar weapons made in imitation of tiger claws, called bagh nakh (tiger claw) were also used in India. The jaguar claw weapon was in part ceremonial, perhaps being utilized by officers or by members of a jaguar marital society. There is a light indication that the scimitar may have had a ritual or ceremonial function, for when Zerahemnah surrenders to Moroni, he gives him his sword, scimitar, and bow as token of his surrender (see Alma 44:8), although, of course, he may be simply have been disarming himself. As mentioned above, although the scimitar is almost always paired with the sword in the Book of Mormon, there is no clear indication as to the type of wound it inflicted, so that a jaguar claw weapon cannot be precluded.

Citations in Mormonr Qnas
Copyright © B. H. Roberts Foundation
The B. H. Roberts Foundation is not owned by, operated by, or affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.