Takouba with five fullers

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Edster

Lee,

You certainly had a harrowing experience, but ultimately no doubt exciting and rewarding.

Although it might be a stretch, I wonder if the fuller type terms giving by the antique dealer would have any parallel meanings or what ever with the five, three and one wide & deep fuller types identified for the Kaskara. I tried to find on-line translations in Tamaskek and Tamahaq as Tuareg langages, but no luck. There are paid sites that I did not pursue.

Best,
Ed

Well noted! we indeed have our own INDIANA JONES here!!! and I have always enjoyed the exciting stories of his adventures! Now there's another book!

Ed, on these terms being filtered through tribal networks diffusing along nomadic territorial and trade routes it seems some did indeed transmit in degree. However, I spent over a decade trying to find the origin of the term 'kaskara', which is entirely unknown in the Sudan, the sword known only as sa'if. One tribal man I once spoke with (I forget which tribe or region but was Sudan) said they called the sword (kaskara) 'cross'.

It was Iain Norman who found that the term actually came from a Baghirmi term for sword (if I recall correctly). It seems this was somewhat implied by Burton in 1884, but despite his notoriety as a linguist and heavily detailed text and footnotes, this instance was void of explanation. It was as far as I have known the first use of the term 'kaskara'.
Thereafter, writers began using the term for these broadswords, which had been the term used for them in descriptions earlier.

Helleri,
Beautifully explained dynamics of sword blades and fullering! I never realized this before, that it was not stock removal but resituating the metal present as described. Thank you.