 Hungarian-history.hu </ref> The Hungarian term "szablya" is ultimately traced to the northwestern Turkic "selebe", with contamination from the Hungarian verb "szab" "to cut".<ref></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.