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Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
In respect of Javanese keris we normally use the word "prabot" to refer to the things that make a keris complete, such as the warangka, jejeran, mendhak, etc.
Some people do use the word "prabot" to refer to the features of a blade, but I have never met one of these people, and everybody I know uses the word "ricikan" to refer to the features of a keris blade.
The word "prabot" in its everyday sense means "tools, utensils, equipment" etc (it has other meanings as well, but they are not relevant here).
The word "ricikan" comes from "ricik", to divide up. "Ricikan" means "extra or additional parts" it can also mean "requirements".
It can be easily seen that ricikan is the correct, and more appropriate word to use to refer to the features of a keris blade. These features are not "tools, utensils, equipment", but are "additional parts", or "requirements", in the sense of a specific requirement to satisfy a particular dhapur.
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In Malay, 'prabot' (which probably comes from the word 'perabot') refers to furniture or tools. Alan, perhaps the reason why you seldom hear, because it is used in Peninsular Malaysia rather than in Jawa... Afaik, ricikan = prabot. Furnishing in this case, would probably meant to refer as blade decorations.
