tumi

Noun

tumi (plural tumis)

1. A ceremonial axe used by some Incan and pre-Incan cultures of South America.
   • The tumis are characterized by a metal handle, which can be bent at the free end or may have an ornament in the form of a button or a zoomorphic head; they also have a curved, sharp blade edge, forming a semicircle or half-moon.[…]The archaeological associations of the tumis found in Argentina...1979, Alberto Rex González, “Pre-Columbian Metallurgy in Northwest Argentina: Historical Development and Cultural Process”, in Elizabeth P. Benson, editor, Pre-Columbian Metallurgy of South America...
   • For instance, he makes sure that the reader is aware that the weapons taken by the Inca army, tumis, are ritual weapons used for the ritual hunt and slaughter of llamas.2002, Thomas B. F. Cummins, Toasts with the Inca: Andean Abstraction and Colonial Images on Quero Vessels, page 18