lightsaber

lightsaber

English

WOTD – 4 May 2017

Two Star Wars cosplayers wielding lightsabers at the 2010 Tekkoshocon, an anime convention held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Alternative forms

• light saber
• lightsabre (Britain and elsewhere outside the US)

Etymology

From light +‎ saber; coined by American filmmaker George Lucas (born 1944) for the Star Wars film franchise (beginning 1977). First mentioned in the film Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope) which was released on 25 May 1977.[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /laɪt.ˈseɪ.bə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /laɪt.ˈseɪ.bɚ/
• Hyphenation: light‧sa‧ber

Noun

lightsaber (plural lightsabers)

1. (science fiction) A sword having a blade made of a powerful beam of light. [from 1977.]
   • 1977 May 25, George Lucas, Star Wars, spoken by Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness):

     [Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker] Your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.

   • 2004, Rob N. Hood, Beyond the Wind, Binghamton, N.Y.: Southern Tier Editions/Harrington Park Press, →ISBN, page 1:

     Wielding his flashlight like a lightsaber, Kyle sent golden shafts slicing through the swirling vapors.

   • 2006 September, Steve Tomkins, “Icon of the Month No. 82: Dr Who”, in Simon Jones, editor, Third Way, volume 29, number 7, Harrow, London: Third Way Trust, ISSN 0309-3492, page 24:

     This was the era of Star Wars, the reinvention of science fiction with the homely Luke Skywalker. But even Luke had the Force and a tie-fighter. The Doctor was a humanist, and his spacecraft was an obsolete phone box redolent of bobbies with whistles. He would never resort to lightsabre against villains, preferring to confront them with jelly babies.

   • 2008 November, “Collecting”, in Boys' Life, volume XCVIII, number 11, Irving, Tx.: Boy Scouts of America, ISSN 0006-8608, page 52:

     Poster Power / Get the scheme behind the scene with Star Wars Blueprints: The Ultimate Collection. This boxed set includes five double-sided posters with blueprints of the Death Star, R2-D2, and C-3PO, lightsabers and blasters, Darth Vader and the Millennium Falcon.

Translations

a fictional type of sword

Arabic: سَيْف الضَّوْءِ‎ m (sayf aḍ-ḍawʾi) Bulgarian: лазерен меч m (lazeren meč), светлинен меч m (svetlinen meč) Catalan: espasa de llum f, sabre làser m Chinese: Mandarin: 光劍／光剑 (guāngjiàn) Czech: světelný meč m Danish: lyssværd n, lasersværd n Dutch: lichtzwaard n, lichtsabel m Esperanto: lumglavo Estonian: valgusmõõk Faroese: geislasvørð n Finnish: valosapeli, valomiekka, lasermiekka, lasersapeli French: sabre laser (fr) m, sabre-laser m, sabrolaser m Galician: espada de luz f, sabre láser m, sabre de luz m German: Lichtschwert n, Laserschwert n Greek: φωτόσπαθο (el) n (fotóspatho) Hebrew: חֶרֶב אוֹר‎ f (khérev 'or) Hungarian: fénykard (hu), lézerkard Icelandic: geislasverð n Italian: spada laser f Japanese: ライトセーバー (raitosēbā), 光の剣 (ひかりのけん, hikari no ken) Korean: 광선검 (gwangseon'geom), 라이트세이버 (raiteuseibeo), 광검 (gwanggeom) Latin: gladius lūcidus m Latvian: gaismas zobens m Navajo: bééshdíín Norwegian: lyssabel m Bokmål: lasersverd Nynorsk: lasersverd Persian: شمشیر نوری‎ (šamšir nuri) Polish: miecz świetlny (pl) m Portuguese: sabre de luz m Romanian: sabie laser f Russian: светово́й меч m (svetovój meč) Sanskrit: रोचसः असि (rócasaḥ así) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: све̏тлоснӣ ма̏ч m, светлосна са̏бља f Roman: svȅtlosnī mȁč m, svetlosna sȁblja f Slovak: svetelný meč m Spanish: sable de luz m, sable láser m, espada de luz f, espada láser f Swedish: ljussabel c, ljussvärd n, lasersvärd n Thai: กระบี่แสง (grà-bìi sɛ̌ɛng), ดาบเลเซอร์ (dàap lee-səə), ไลท์เซเบอร์ (lai-see-bəə) Turkish: ışın kılıcı Ukrainian: світлови́й меч m (svitlovýj meč) Yiddish: ליכטסייבער‎ f (likhtseyber), ליכטשווערד‎ f (likhtshverd)

References

1. “Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope (1977): Release Info”, in IMDb‎, accessed 27 December 2019.

Further reading

• lightsaber on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Gilbreaths, lightsabre