Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SYTHE, n. [Sax. sithe; D. seissen; Ch. הצד, Syr. ܚܨܕ, Ar. حَصَدَ hatzada, to reap; deriv. Ar. a sickle; Sam. עצד; Eth. ዐፀደ atzad, to reap, and deriv. a sickle; Heb. and Ch. מעצד, from the same root, an ax. These verbs seem to be the same, with different prefixes, and from this evidently is derived sythe, which is written incorrectly scythe.]

1. An instrument for mowing grass, or cutting grain or other vegetables. It consists of a long curving blade with a sharp edge, made fast to a handle, which in New England is called a snath, and which is bent into a convenient form for swinging the blade to advantage. The blade is hung to the snath at an acute angle. In mythology, Saturn or Time is represented with a sythe, the emblem of destruction.
2. The curved sharp blade used anciently in war chariots.