KATTARA/SAYF (SAIF) CLASSIFICATION

[kahnjar1]

Salaams Ibrahiim.

Thank you for that information. We must of course bow to the (better) knowledge from establishments in the "country of origin".
No doubt in collectors circles the name KATTARA will continue to be used to describe the straight Omani sword, as perhaps the term "Wahabite" is often used to describe the Dharia daggers of Western Arabia.

Perhaps with all the information now assembled, it could be worth writing a small book on the subject, which could be made available at a reasonable price to those interested. Certainly with the wealth of writing on this subject, which has appeared on the Forum, it would maybe only take some editing to get things into a publishable form??

If such a book were to appear, I for one would certainly buy a copy.

Regards Stu

[Jim McDougall]

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

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

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

Salaams Jim, Thank you for the kind words. Constructive criticism; I love it ! Going forward using the data so far extracted I think we have a good chance to put some perspective around this entire connundrum on Omani Swords. I hope we can bring some of the viewers on board to actively contribute and other already Forum members who havent written in...can be encouraged to dig up the references or carry out some web searching so we can engage everyone in discussion. It must have been shocking in the early days before computers! A letter in 1811 to India from Muscat would take a few weeks to arrive and twice as long to come back. Regards Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

Salaams Ibrahiim.

Thank you for that information. We must of course bow to the (better) knowledge from establishments in the "country of origin".
No doubt in collectors circles the name KATTARA will continue to be used to describe the straight Omani sword, as perhaps the term "Wahabite" is often used to describe the Dharia daggers of Western Arabia.

Perhaps with all the information now assembled, it could be worth writing a small book on the subject, which could be made available at a reasonable price to those interested. Certainly with the wealth of writing on this subject, which has appeared on the Forum, it would maybe only take some editing to get things into a publishable form??

If such a book were to appear, I for one would certainly buy a copy.

Regards Stu

Excellent points Stu!!! and I totally agree! a monograph with these kinds of details would be much appreciated in the arms world, and there is indeed a wealth of knowledge and material shared here. I'd be right with ya in line!

All the best,
Jim