A knife by any other name

[not2sharp]

I just finished Kirkpatrick's, An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal (written in 1811). It is an interesting but dry read, however, at the end he has a vocabulary list in which he writes that a khukuri (he spells it Kookheri) is the Purbutti term for a knife or a dagger. Is Khukuri simply the generic term for knife, or are there other local terms associated with other styles of knife?

n2s

 

[Bill Martino]

My little English-Nepali dictionary lists for knife: cakku, syagi, karda. Chupi is a fairly popular word for knife, too.

Some old Peace Corps book I have laying around defines khukuri as "Gurkha knife."

Remember, the kamis call any type of sword or long blade a tarwar.

 

[BruiseLeee]

"There ain't many places where you can get a 100% gin-u-wine gurkee nife."

My paraphrase of a guy at a sporting goods store that had a couple of khukuris.

 

[Rusty]

I don't think I could have passed the opportunity up.

Did you say anything, Bruise?

 

[Ferrous Wheel]

It may have been a specialized term at one time, but may have become generic over time. If the way of the folk in Nepal is similar in some respects to the west, it mighta gone somethinng like these:

Exhibit A-- the term "Broadsword" There is no actual classification or typology for a broadsword, but the term could be used to describe any sword that could be thought of as wider in the blade than usual. Since blade width differs from time to time and location to location, just about any sword could be considered a broadsword.


Same thing for seax in Anglo Saxon times. Came to mean just about any knnifwe of the times. Unless the seax was sword length, then it was a langseax or scramaseax.

Keith

 

[BruiseLeee]

Originally posted by Rusty
I don't think I could have passed the opportunity up.

Did you say anything, Bruise?

I listened politely, smiled and looked at the knife for awhile. I didn't want to say there's a guy in Reno who sells a much better product for only a few bux more. I don't really like to argue with salespeople. Some folks find it enjoyable though. Oh well.

They looked very much like the villagers that Uncle Bill gets in every now and again. Really small handles even by my standards and really light.