Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Karud: the weapon that did not exist:-)

mariusgmioc · 23rd August 2017, 10:35 AM

Very interesting discussion but I must stress that in Persian the word "KARD/KARUD" simply means knife... OF ANY TYPE.

The same way the word "SHAMSHIR" means sword... of any type.

Or the same way the word "KILIJ" in Turkish means sword ... of any type.

Or the same way the word "BICHAK" in Turkish means knife... of any type.

Yet, it were the European researchers/collectors/scholars who associated all these generic local names to very specific types of weapons.

Whether this happened because of a missunderstanding of the local language or because of a deliberate decission is relevant mainly for the scholar and scientific accuracy. For us, as collectors, is more important to have clear and precise terms to accurately describe each type of weapon.

Since there is NO ethnographically and linguistically correct term to describe precisely the straight-bladed Pesh-kabz, I believe we are perfectly justified to use the term "KARUD" to describe it, even if it may be ethnographically and linguistically incorrect.

23rd August 2017, 10:35 AM	#67
mariusgmioc Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Austria Posts: 1,870	Very interesting discussion but I must stress that in Persian the word "KARD/KARUD" simply means knife... OF ANY TYPE. The same way the word "SHAMSHIR" means sword... of any type. Or the same way the word "KILIJ" in Turkish means sword ... of any type. Or the same way the word "BICHAK" in Turkish means knife... of any type. Yet, it were the European researchers/collectors/scholars who associated all these generic local names to very specific types of weapons. Whether this happened because of a missunderstanding of the local language or because of a deliberate decission is relevant mainly for the scholar and scientific accuracy. For us, as collectors, is more important to have clear and precise terms to accurately describe each type of weapon. Since there is NO ethnographically and linguistically correct term to describe precisely the straight-bladed Pesh-kabz, I believe we are perfectly justified to use the term "KARUD" to describe it, even if it may be ethnographically and linguistically incorrect. Last edited by mariusgmioc; 23rd August 2017 at 01:27 PM.