MacHete
Hair Cropper & Chipmunk Wrangler
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2000
- Messages
- 2,559
O.K.- It looks as though it will be July before I can put my new acquisition (a WWII) through its paces properly. So, since I cannot enjoy my knife physically, I have begun to explore it intellectually. (If I may presume to use the word.)
First, I dusted off an old dictionary with an alphabet table to see if my suspicions about the sanskrit characters stamped on the blade were correct. I guessed that the two characters represented "G.H." one way or another and, if so, wondered: Did the letters represent Nepalese words, or the English words in sanskrit writing? "Gurkha", of course is the same in both languages, but for all I knew the Nepalese word for "house" could start with a "Q".
Well, I don't know how many different alphabets are employed to write sanskrit, but in the one called "devanagari", the second letter is definitely an "H". This could stand for "house" in English or, it could mean that the nepalese word for house also begins with the same phoneme, such as "hominahominahomina". The first character was a little more difficult to translate. Apparently when writing sanskrit, vowels immediately following a consonant are depicted by attaching little hooks, slashes or squiggles to the character for that consonant. As near as I could make out, the first letter on the blade stamp represents the phoneme of a "G" followed by an "O" or "go".
This discovery forced me to re-evaluate my original hypothesis about the initials. It seemed that I was looking at the abbreviated phrase "Go H." which could be "go to h...", although I preferred not to believe that, or more likely, "Go Homurabi". Quite possibly a reference to the famous ethical code and indicative of GH's own business practices. Then again, it could just be that alternative spelling of "Gurkha" that I have noticed over at HI.
If you've made it this far through this post without petitioning the moderator to banish me from it forever, I thank you.
Now for my serious question: What do the model names of the various khukuris mean? What are Panawals, Ang Khoras and Sirupatis? Is there a literal translation? Are these names of regions where these patterns originate or predominate? Are they descriptive of the distictive pattern or usage? I know that the Kora or Choora is the name of a sword unique to Nepal. Is the name "Ang Khora" related to this sword?
I really am curious to learn. Thanks for wading through this long and frivolous post. I'm just trying to maximize my khukuri enjoyment. Any info, input or insight is much appreciated.
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Be Worthy
First, I dusted off an old dictionary with an alphabet table to see if my suspicions about the sanskrit characters stamped on the blade were correct. I guessed that the two characters represented "G.H." one way or another and, if so, wondered: Did the letters represent Nepalese words, or the English words in sanskrit writing? "Gurkha", of course is the same in both languages, but for all I knew the Nepalese word for "house" could start with a "Q".
Well, I don't know how many different alphabets are employed to write sanskrit, but in the one called "devanagari", the second letter is definitely an "H". This could stand for "house" in English or, it could mean that the nepalese word for house also begins with the same phoneme, such as "hominahominahomina". The first character was a little more difficult to translate. Apparently when writing sanskrit, vowels immediately following a consonant are depicted by attaching little hooks, slashes or squiggles to the character for that consonant. As near as I could make out, the first letter on the blade stamp represents the phoneme of a "G" followed by an "O" or "go".
This discovery forced me to re-evaluate my original hypothesis about the initials. It seemed that I was looking at the abbreviated phrase "Go H." which could be "go to h...", although I preferred not to believe that, or more likely, "Go Homurabi". Quite possibly a reference to the famous ethical code and indicative of GH's own business practices. Then again, it could just be that alternative spelling of "Gurkha" that I have noticed over at HI.
If you've made it this far through this post without petitioning the moderator to banish me from it forever, I thank you.
Now for my serious question: What do the model names of the various khukuris mean? What are Panawals, Ang Khoras and Sirupatis? Is there a literal translation? Are these names of regions where these patterns originate or predominate? Are they descriptive of the distictive pattern or usage? I know that the Kora or Choora is the name of a sword unique to Nepal. Is the name "Ang Khora" related to this sword?
I really am curious to learn. Thanks for wading through this long and frivolous post. I'm just trying to maximize my khukuri enjoyment. Any info, input or insight is much appreciated.
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Be Worthy