Kaskara and others.
Re the names of weapons, the earliest collections were for the most part put together as "trophies of arms"by old warriors and soldiers returned from wars and colonial ventures. The names they gave to weapons would be what they used, sometimes in their own language, sometimes mangled versions of the peoples they got the weapons from. And possibly sometimes the term used by soldiers for the gear used by the enemy. Eg, burp gun, sam johnson?, balalaika, tommy gun, flaming onion etc. In the case of "kaskara" the name was possibly bestowed by the humble Tommy Atkins in the field....[( 'cos when they came for you with one of them, your "bowels loosened".) not to be taken too seriously, please. Kaskara oil in 19thC Britain was a well known remedy for constipation]
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