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Originally Posted by DaveA
I am grateful to Timo for analyzing my line of thinking on possible sword fighting reasons for the reverse handle. As an armchair (at one time, standing) fencer myself, it is a good reminder to me and my ilk how little we know of the actual historical use of these weapons, and how important that might (or might not) be in understanding their form.
Is it known whether kris-bearing fighters carried a knife or other weapon in their offhand?
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In the old days, if you went out to fight in battle, you would take your shield.
For when you have no shield with you, then what do you do with the off-hand? I don't know of any good historical written sources. What about modern martial arts? The relevant art would be silat, which is, alas, probably the major Asian martial arts family I know the least about. I don't know about two-weapons in silat, but can say something about off-hand with single weapon. For short swords, if you're not using a shield or a second weapon, the off-hand is useful for trapping and deflecting, and grappling. For trapping, the ideal target is the upper arm near the elbow - push against the body, and the motion of the weapon arm is greatly restricted. For deflecting/blocking/parrying with the off-hand, if their weapon can reach your body, you can reach their forearm with your off-hand to deflect/block/parry (of course, you can do the same with your weapon, which is much more effective than blocking their weapon).
All this is possible, important, and/or essential because of the body-to-body distance when in weapon range. It's even more important with knife. It's this short range that makes European-style parry-riposte fencing non-optimal - the opponent can trap and move in to very close range; using the weapon this way also exposes the forearm a lot. This kind of stuff with the off-hand starts to get harder to do when you exceed about 24" of blade, but can work for longer weapons as an occasional technique.
Escrima/arnis/kali of the northern Philippines is big on two-weapons, either sword and knife or two short swords, or sticks originally acting as substitutes for such. But one of its roots is Spanish rapier and dagger, so it doesn't tell us that much about the use of the off-hand with kris.
A lot of Chinese martial arts are big on two weapons. There, it's mostly as an equaliser for short weapons against spear (in my opinion, the spear still has a large advantage, ceteris paribus, but two short weapons against spear is much better than one; against a naive spearman, it can work very well).