It has been some time since we covered the particulars on these swords, and I recall it does seem the Omani sayf, with open cylindrical hilt as discussed, evolved as a derivative of the 'sayf Yemani'.
These sayf Yemani were with a crossguard with downturned quillons which were a style from the earliest Islamic hilt forms and were considered sacrosanct in the Ibathi Faith which remained situated in Nizwa in Oman, and through the centuries in a number of other regions, notably Basra in Iraq.
These swords were indeed 'battle swords' and undoubtedly were used as such through the centuries. If I recall, when Sayyid Said bin Sultan al Busaidi took rule in 1804, he had wished to move toward a more 'modern' approach to the dynamics of his regime. As noted, the creative revamping of the styling of traditional weaponry and the enhancement of the sword dance in the dynastic elements of the regime were among ways he sought to accomplish this.
I realize there are a lot of complex details in all of this, which explain much, but this is basically what I have understood.
By this time in early 19th c., the advent of firearms had largely overtaken the use of the sword in battle, despite the sword still held as the key weapon in more of a symbolic sense in the fundamental Islamic tradition.
Even as the more 'modern' open hilt sayf gained popularity to the point it became 'symbolic' in the Sultanate , and worn as a sword of office and status, there were examples of the traditional sayf Yemani which were embellished notably and seem to have been intended in a commemorative sense.
With the curved 'kittareh', these seem to have evolved from the number of German saber blades circulating in trade networks in the 19th c. (as noted in Burton) and as readily available, simply mounted in the 'dynastic' hilt form of the Sultanate. As these seem to have been early associated with these expeditions from Zanzibar into Bunyoro (Kitara) it would seem that these curved examples would have been worn with a certain 'swagger' by influential merchants (including slave factors) who had been 'in the field'.
This would be best described as in the manner of the 'Bowie' knife so characteristically worn in the American frontiers.
These weapons worn in this manner, are intended to be used if necessary, however when firearms are the primary arm, their actual use was mostly incidental and as required.
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