View Single Post
Old 6th February 2014, 05:09 AM   #9
ariel
Member
 
ariel's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posts: 5,503
Default

Karbala is an Iraqi town that long ago belonged to Persia. That's where some people try to place the source of karabela.
However, karabela ( just a saber with a characteristic handle, no different from a tulwar with "pulwar" handle) is actually Turkish.
IMHO, the origin of the name is not Turkish "kara bela" and not the Italian " cara bella", but just a name of a Turkish town Karabel.
But this is just IMHO, and I am not going to get into a fight because of it :-)
ariel is offline   Reply With Quote