Cutlass Scimitar Sword

I was recently visiting one of my friends for her birthday and her dad keeps a lot of junk lying around their yard. Well, he happens to have a unique-looking type of sword that I'm told is real in every way. The sword looks like a cutlass or a scimitar, but it has no guard on the hilt like a cutlass would and it is not from the middle-east like a scimitar. The blade of the sword is engraved on one side with what is either Latin or Spanish, but it is rusted so I could only make out a few of the words (which I am also unable to recall). I don't know what else could be useful in a description of it, but I'd like to know if anyone could determine what kind of sword this is by what I've said. I'm just curious as to what it is, because I've hunted the internet for a match just to what it looks like but I have found none. If someone could help me...? It's bugging me like crazy.