An archaic or dialectal variant spelling of cutlass or a curved, shortened blade weapon.
A variant spelling mixing curtal (short) with the terminal -axe element, showing the orthographic confusion surrounding borrowed sword terminology in Middle English maritime vocabulary.
Sailors borrowed words from Portuguese, Spanish, and French for their weapons, so English spelling went haywire—you'd see 'curtaxe,' 'cotisse,' 'cutlash,' and 'coutelas' all in the same ship's log!
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