Back to Laz Bicagi

[OsobistGB]

Originally Posted by gp

Concerning " Baba Kamas" :

in many slavic countries :

Kama means knife
Baba means grandmother….

but baba also is used in “ baba Jaga “ : a magical wild dark witchy deadly woman

When citing names one has to incorporate the cultural and linguistic significance in order to explain the item ‘ s name and understand.

This is quite typical for many slavic regions and countries to give nicknames, which in oneway might symbolize something with regards to the use or nature of the object or another way gives a touchy, sometimes kind, sometimes mischievous or quite serious or slightly humoristic name to a deadly weapon.
A “ Granny ‘ s knife “ or even “ the witch’s dagger “ is quite sarcastic or ironical in a way for a deadly weapon….

FYI : Not only objects but also people have met with this change of name …
(think of the Ossetian Ioseb Jughashvili or the Croat Josip Broz)

I have no idea of your nationality and of your linguistic abilities Баба / baba -actually translates as grandmother , but here in this case the word comes from the Turkish language and means father. I actually know many cases where google translate can put you in an awkward position

[Jim McDougall]

Its hard to believe we have been 'discussing' these curious swords (using a safe term) for nearly two decades, and this is as far as we've gotten. Naturally this has become one of the premier bouts of the much loved 'name game' which has given us quite a lot of consternation in more 'discussions' than can be remembered.

When Tony Tirri compiled his most helpful reference in 2004, in his entry of these, he used a Russian reference as one of the two cites he provided, in which these were termed 'khopesh from North Africa.

Just wanted to add this from British Museum, top example. There is a degree of similarity in the recurve of the blade. Interesting, 19th dynasty to 19th century.