Javanese machete??

[Billman]

Originally Posted by marto suwignyo

The variation in names of things from place to place in Java is very confusing sometimes, this was precisely what I was trying to clarify with my questions to Kiai Carita. Kiai Carita took the correct approach when he said "in my village it is called such and such". In another village twenty kilometers down the road it might be called something else entirely, which to me means that if we want to give names to things we need to qualify the name by saying:- in this place, at this time, this article is known as a whatever.

This does not only happen in Asia - even in countries such as France a few miles difference can mean a different spelling, a different pronunciation or even a completely different name...

The dictionary name for a billhook in French is a serpe (diminutive a serpette, or little serpe) - but also gouet, goyarde, poudo, pudet, podadora...

For more complete list, see my web site: http://www.billhooks.co.uk/France%201.htm

In the UK it can be a billhook; a bill, a handbill, a hedging bill, a chopper, a hacker, a brushing hook, a hook, a broom hook, a block hook, a spar hook, a pruning hook - see: http://www.billhooks.co.uk/Page%201.htm

and the shape can vary considerably from country to country....