KATTARA/SAYF (SAIF) CLASSIFICATION

Jim McDougall · 26th November 2011, 01:04 AM

This is absolutely excellent work Ibrahiim, and your tenacious field research is moving in an astoundingly compelling direction in resolving the terminology issues pertaining to these particular swords.
There are many dilemmas concerning terms used to identify and classify many ethnographic weapons, and it is good to see at least this area being addressed. It seems there are well supported details here which offer good reason to recognize the term application.....but as we have found over the years, quite another story to realign terms used by collectors and even in most cases scholars.
Many terms have become thoroughly established semantically in the literature, and as a result the corrected term can often lead to difficulty in interpretation in discussions and subsequent material.

This does not by any means diminish the importance of the resolution in correcting the terms, and hopefully further work will reflect as per the realigned terms.

I think case in point are the katar, which should be called the jamadhar; the kaskara, which is actually known simply as sa'if locally, as are many swords in the Dar al Islam, where the term sa'if is applied in general to various sword forms. In Morocco, the sabre which has been mistermed 'nimcha' as typically known as a sa'if. I think these are more cases of transliteration, but again, have become so firmly established it will be difficult to realign.

Excellent work Ibrahiim!! and absolutely must be continued!!!

All the best,
Jim

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26th November 2011, 01:04 AM	#4
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,295	This is absolutely excellent work Ibrahiim, and your tenacious field research is moving in an astoundingly compelling direction in resolving the terminology issues pertaining to these particular swords. There are many dilemmas concerning terms used to identify and classify many ethnographic weapons, and it is good to see at least this area being addressed. It seems there are well supported details here which offer good reason to recognize the term application.....but as we have found over the years, quite another story to realign terms used by collectors and even in most cases scholars. Many terms have become thoroughly established semantically in the literature, and as a result the corrected term can often lead to difficulty in interpretation in discussions and subsequent material. This does not by any means diminish the importance of the resolution in correcting the terms, and hopefully further work will reflect as per the realigned terms. I think case in point are the katar, which should be called the jamadhar; the kaskara, which is actually known simply as sa'if locally, as are many swords in the Dar al Islam, where the term sa'if is applied in general to various sword forms. In Morocco, the sabre which has been mistermed 'nimcha' as typically known as a sa'if. I think these are more cases of transliteration, but again, have become so firmly established it will be difficult to realign. Excellent work Ibrahiim!! and absolutely must be continued!!! All the best, Jim