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Originally Posted by kai
True enough - I was trying to avoid discussing that...  |
hmmm...isn't a discussion forum a funny place to avoid, you know, discussion?
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Originally Posted by kai
As Alan noted, the other names are just variants of the same name. I can't really judge how much this may be based on actual differences in pronounciation due to local dialects/languages (their usage by colonial linguists conversant in several branches of the Malay language family may indicate so).
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Well yes, and i was quite aware that all the "S" words are indeed a variant on the same word. However it does seem that these variant may perhaps be specific to different areas so i was trying to determine which name spelling and pronunciations might be specific to which regions.
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Originally Posted by kai
While the typical blade of these daggers (single edged blade curving down towards the tip; strong integral bolster; at the base with usually a short, engraved line which I hesitate to term fuller since it seems to be done pretty sloppily) is widely distributed, the fittings do exhibit a lot of local styles. Yet the shared name seems to indicate that these were regarded as basically equivalent daggers with pretty much only the blade as common denominator.
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How unusually for Indonesian. Nothing like the keris then, for instance. LOL!
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Originally Posted by kai
On the other hand, the Malay concept of tumbok lada [pepper crusher/grinder] seems to be based on the hilt whose shape could be likened to a tool. In AvZ only the single example with carved horn hilt qualifies as a piece from the coastal Malay community on both sides of the Malacca Strait. The other 4 are Karo status pieces and these apparently got never referred to as tumbok lada by any highland group (possibly short of Scots, that is... ). Both types exhibit similar (broader and more straight) blades (often with fullers). Despite these blades not being identical, the collectors' approach has been to lump these broader blades with stubby hilts as tumbok lada; and to refer to any with dowwncurving blades (and usually short engraved line) as Sewah. This notion may be supported by the status siwaih from Aceh which also exhibit very bulky hilts (more so than many Malay tumbok lada) and still not referred to as tumbok lada in Aceh. I wouldn't be surprised though if somewhat intermediate pieces like yours would have been referred to as tumbok lada by the Straits Malay - or possibly as sewah the other day or in the next village...   |
And indeed it is numerous Straits Malaysians who have referred to this particular knife as Tumbuk Lada on the 2 Facebook collectors page where i also posted this knife. I can clearly see why AvZ makes a distinction between Sewar and Tumbuk Lada, but i am not sure that all the collectors who actually are native to these regions make the same distinction.
