Origins of Kilij

ariel · 29th May 2007, 01:09 PM

That is interesting! I never thought about phonetics. You may be absolutely right:" kalachoori" may not be a particular type of sword ( in the sense of shamshir, shashka, khanda etc), but a generic one, with an altered spelling on top to make our lives a bit more difficult

. If this is the case we might have indeed seen a lot of "Kalachoories" without recognizing them as such. It was mentioned casually in so many sources, always with an implication that it was somewhat curved and had a yelman, but never with any definition or actual example. That's why I called it a "unicorn". I think your explanation may be the best one I've ever heard about the nature of this sword.
The potential preservation of an ancient word in street slang is fascinating: low language may indeed preserve old words despite linguistic changes introduced over the centuries by the ruling class. As a quick example, one can refer to English: Saxons were defeated by the Normans. The former became peasants, whereas the latter became overlords. Saxons raised oxen, whereas Normans ate beef.
I am unfamiliar with the book you mentioned: is it too big for scanning and posting here? Or, any source of acquiring it? Must be very informative.
Thanks for your comments!!!

29th May 2007, 01:09 PM	#20
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	That is interesting! I never thought about phonetics. You may be absolutely right:" kalachoori" may not be a particular type of sword ( in the sense of shamshir, shashka, khanda etc), but a generic one, with an altered spelling on top to make our lives a bit more difficult . If this is the case we might have indeed seen a lot of "Kalachoories" without recognizing them as such. It was mentioned casually in so many sources, always with an implication that it was somewhat curved and had a yelman, but never with any definition or actual example. That's why I called it a "unicorn". I think your explanation may be the best one I've ever heard about the nature of this sword. The potential preservation of an ancient word in street slang is fascinating: low language may indeed preserve old words despite linguistic changes introduced over the centuries by the ruling class. As a quick example, one can refer to English: Saxons were defeated by the Normans. The former became peasants, whereas the latter became overlords. Saxons raised oxen, whereas Normans ate beef. I am unfamiliar with the book you mentioned: is it too big for scanning and posting here? Or, any source of acquiring it? Must be very informative. Thanks for your comments!!! Last edited by ariel; 29th May 2007 at 01:32 PM.