The more I read this thread, the more intrigued I am by the topic of the original post, and the subject of Arab spears. I have to admit I have never really focused on these particular weapons, nor fully realized how important they were in Arabia. According to the traveler T. Burckhardt in the 1830s, '..the most common weapon of the Arabs were their lances' (Elgood, 1994, p.66). I had always had the impression the sword was the key weapon they used.
In the original post, Colin was asking about the term and possible origin with which to classify the two shafted weapons he has, which has revealed the obvious difficulty in accurately applying same to these to universal satisfaction.
It seems that while there are terms used which would denote a broad head (shalfa) or narrow head (harba), (Elgood, p.67) these descriptive terms are far from exclusively used in different regions and by various tribes etc. While some refer to the point/head as 'kentad' and the spike inserting it into the shaft as harbe, in Syria the point is termed the harbe.
Then it is noted (p.66) that the lance in North Arabia in the 19th c. is known as 'shalfa' or 'rumh'.
As might be expected, with the diversity of the tribes of the Bedouin over the considerable distances of the regions they occupy, there is apparently a notable disparity in the use of terms used for the shafted weapons in use.
This is of course complicated by their size (length) and how they are used (as javelin, spear or lance).
It does not seem that such terms documented on such weapons in one region would necessarily cover those used in local parlance of other tribes or inhabitants of other regions in the Arab world. Writers and travelers trying to document the names of these weapons were of course subject to the transliteration issues from information they were given.
Noting the seemingly often colloquial use of descriptive terms for the weapons, which were of utmost importance to the Arab, I was reading some of the colorful and fascinating terms used toward rifles for example.
It seems often the reference was directed toward the size or magazine capacity, as with the Winchester repeating rifle, 'the mother of 17'. The short British rifle was apparently often termed 'sharfa'. While this term was compellingly close to the term 'shalfa' (one form of lance) it is obviously not the same word, and from what I found meant loosely 'baby girl' probably referring to the smaller (carbine?) size.
The point is that it would seem there are not only many terms and names for these weapons which are often, if not typically, applied in varying degree of descriptive reference, some almost fanciful. In many cases even the type of wood (rattan etc.) might be applied to the name of the particular weapon.
This is all part of the exciting fascination of these weapons, among quite honestly, the entire culture of Arabia and the Arab world, and why our sincere study of these people is given such dimension and dynamics through their weaponry.
Naturally I welcome the insight of others toward the observations I have noted here from the resources I have cited, as learning is my objective.
Further, I am really fascinated by the talismanic properties described in the previous posts and look forward to developing more on them as well.
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