Word Origin | Hançer, Bıçak

Bursa Knife from "Bought, Borrowed & Stolen: Recipes and Knives from a Travelling Chef" Conran Octopus, 2011 (paperback June 2013) 
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Bursa knife manufacturing was started by Balkan immigrants after the Russian War of 93 (93 harbi)  
Mavi Boncuk |

[1] Hançer: dagger[1], knife [2] [ Dede Korkut Kitabı, c.1400] Basatuŋ χançeri varıdı; edügünü yardı from Arabic ḥancar حنجر kısa savunma bıçağı TR; short defensive knife EN; from Aramaic χangərā חנגרא Sogdian χangar) 

Bıçak: oldTR kınğırak (et bıçağı TR; meat knife EN). biçek/bıçak [ Divan-i Lugat-it Türk, 1070] Bel bıçağı, et bıçağı, kıyma bıçağı, kaymak bıçağı, pastırma bıçağı, börek bıçağı, bekçi bıçağı , kasap bıçağı

(weapon) A stabbing weapon, similar to a sword but with a short, double-edged blade. Probably from Old French dague (1229), related to Occitan, Italian, Spanish daga, German Degen, Middle Low German dagge (“knife's point”), Old Norse daggardr, Welsh dager, dagr, Breton dac, Albanian thikë (“a knife, dagger”), thek (“to stab, to pierce with a sharp object”).

In English attested from the 1380s. The ultimate origin of the word is unclear. Grimm suspects Celtic origin. Others have suggested derivation from an unattested Vulgar Latin *daca "Dacian [knife]", from the Latin adjective dācus. Chastelain (Dictionaire etymologique, 1750) thought that French dague was a derivation from German dagge, dagen, although not attested until a much later date).

The knightly dagger evolves from the 12th century. Guillaume le Breton (died 1226) uses daca in his Philippide. Other Middle Latin forms include daga, dagga, dagha, dagger, daggerius, daggerium, dagarium, dagarius, diga; the forms with -r- are late 14th century adoptions of the English word). OED points out that there is also an English verb dag (“to stab”) from which this could be a derivation, but the verb is attested only from about 1400.


Relation to Old Armenian դակու (daku, “adze, axe”) has also been suggested.
[1] Dagger (n.) : late 14c., apparently from Old French dague "dagger," from Old Provençal dague or Italian daga, which is of uncertain origin; perhaps Celtic, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *daca "Dacian knife," from the Roman province in modern Romania. The ending is possibly the faintly pejorative -ard suffix. Attested earlier (1279) as a surname (Dagard, presumably "one who carried a dagger"). Also compare dogwood. Middle Dutch dagge, Danish daggert, German Degen also are from French.

See also: poniard, rondel, stiletto
Poniard (n.) 1580s, from Middle French poinard (early 16c.), from Old French poignal "dagger," literally "anything grasped with the fist," from poing "fist," from Latin pungus "fist," from PIE root *peuk- (see pugnacious). Probably altered in French by association with poindre "to stab." Compare Latin pugnus "fist," pugio "dagger." As a verb from c. 1600.

Rondel: A rondel dagger /ˈrɒndəl/ or roundel dagger was a type of stiff-bladed dagger in Europe in the late Middle Ages (from the 14th century onwards), used by a variety of people from merchants to knights. It was worn at the waist and might be used as a utility tool, or worn into battle or a jousting tournament as a side-arm.

Stiletto (n.) 1610s, "short dagger with a thick blade," from Italian stiletto, diminutive of stilo "dagger," from Latin stilus "pointed writing instrument" (see style (n.)). Stiletto heel first attested 1953.

[2] Knife (n.): late Old English cnif, probably from Old Norse knifr, from Proto-Germanic *knibaz (cognates: Middle Low German knif, Middle Dutch cnijf, German kneif), of uncertain origin. To further confuse the etymology, there also are forms in -p-, such as Dutch knijp, German kneip. French canif "penknife" (mid-15c.) is borrowed from Middle English or Norse.