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Originally Posted by fernando
An inteligent explanation in context, Jim ... as usual  .
As an aside ...
The power of language is like that; the repetitive calling a thing with a determined name by the common man, ends up becoming effective. When i was in school, the teacher told me that Jesus, pretending to cover the largest audience with his parables, spoke to the crowd in Aramic; which i took as the period "lingua franca".
Looks like Stone fell to the same sin  .
Good "nite" ... dearest cowboy  .
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Aw shucks Fernando!
Thank you! it weren't nuthin'!
Really, excellent analogy, and VERY well placed. It is ABOUT the lingua francia, and it is wise to use in cases where you are trying to reach the broader scope audience.
Collecting has developed its own 'lingua francia', complete with terms as well as commonly held notions since it evolved as an actual hobby.
Well put, Stone as one of the seminal authors of references specifically intended for collectors well observed this most sensible practice.
During the 'debates' over the years, it has been well proven that the term 'KATAR' was misapplied to the transverse grip dagger we all know well.
The actual term was of course 'jamadhar', but was inadvertently transposed in Egerton (1884), with subsequent writers following suit.
Even though the mistake was well revealed, as a matter of prudence the term remains in use as it has become established to collectors as referring to that specific weapon form.
Also, the Elgood example on the firangi term is quintessant, and addresses the Genoa circumstance perfectly.
Well observed Kubur, on the engraving or scribing of the mark. As previously noted, relying on photos is typically less than optimum for such determinations, and a caveat I would add is that adding such marks using these methods does not specifically denote India as a source of the blade.
The many entrepots in trade network circuits were well aware of the increased value of markings (especially those associated with quality and integrity on volumes of European blades). It was not unusual for less than skilled persons to attempt to duplicate these in those places as they offered these blades to customers.
The point I made regarding the pairing of the sickle arcs and the 'star' was that in my view, such spurious application of markings did not typically add the other markings often accompanying the key markings in European context configurations.
In native regions ethnographically it was not surprising to see well known European markings copied, such as the 'sickles', however the added marks were not usually added and not regarded as relevant.....it was the key marking which carried or imbued the 'power or magic'.
Also, we cannot discount the fact that even in European settings where unskilled workers could well have applied such marks to trade shipments destined for native markets, such amateur examples are occasionally seen.
All we can do is speculate, and try to find the best answers from collected data and comprehensive experience as a group sharing same.