Not only you foreign guys, many Thais often mix Dahb with Krabi.
Rather than making my own definition for Dahb and Krabi, I should tell you how most modern-central Thais caragorize weapons. 'coz, there are regional words and there are old words, which are differ from the major population but we will talk about that in another thread.
First of all, all Thais will call stuff like this and also Dha as "
Dahb" or sometime "
Dahb Thai" which literally means traditional Thai sword (or similar stuff.
)
http://thaiblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1854
And then katana (wakizashi is included) are call "
Dahb Yipoon" or "
Dahb Samurai" which means Nippon sword. These blades are clearly fall in "
Dahb" catagory.
Most single-edged sword such as persian, indian, indonesian are in "
Dahb" catagory too. Only their origin were added to its name.
There is an exeptional. There are words for officer or calvary sabre and similar blade with guard, the official Thai word is "
Krabi" while general term could be "
Dahb Fa-rhang" which means foreign (western) sword. (should I remind you that, in Thai language, there are general, official and royal words for some classy stuff like sabre.
)
However, double-edged chinese Jian mostly in "
Krabi" catagory. This because of chinese Dao already occupied "
Dahb" catagory.
Although having two sharp edges, european medival longsword always "
Dahb" for Thais. To make a specific call, "
Dahb Asawin" or medival full-plated knight sword might be used. Never been in "
Krabi" catagory.
