New question on khukuris (?)

I can hear the kamis chuckling and saying, "why do you want to give yourself all these problems over a word. It's just a knife that's called a khukuri." It's kind of like asking a kami what does the cho signify?

Bill is right. It's just a word like door, string or fish. So don't get etymological on this Ben ...let's keep it simple.

ps
For those interested, the kothimora chapter is almost done in its first crude form. This will be one chapter with lots and lots of photos. Actually isn't that what people really want anyway? A few words and lots of pix?
 
Originally posted by Bill Martino
My head is hurting. I'm going to side with the kamis.
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Not me...I'm gonna draw the blinds, break out the thutty-thutty, and wait for the white vans :rolleyes:
 
We had a guy in town who purveyed top of the line automatic or switchblade knives try to do that.

He never saw the white buffalo, but there sure were a lot of holsteins show up.

He stayed a couple months after a cram course in the Sparks College of Knowlege, then moved to Pahrump. Ohmigawd, Pahrump's got Vampire Gerbil too!

I think maybe it's time to take an extra Prozac.
 
Originally posted by John Powell

Bill is right. It's just a word like door, string or fish. So don't get etymological on this Ben ...let's keep it simple.
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JP - that was really my answer in the end:

originally posted by beoram
In the end you know what 'khukuri' means. It means 'khukuri'. Imagine your reaction if someone asked you what 'knife' means. It's the same thing.
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So what Johan was asking was really an etymological question and I was just trying to answer that (while pointing out that Uncle & the kamis are essentially right). And everything from 'door' to 'khukuree' to 'endothermic' is just a word in the end.....

ps
For those interested, the kothimora chapter is almost done in its first crude form. This will be one chapter with lots and lots of photos. Actually isn't that what people really want anyway? A few words and lots of pix?
Click to expand...

Will be excited to see it...

cheers, Ben.
 
For those interested, the kothimora chapter is almost done in its first crude form. This will be one chapter with lots and lots of photos. Actually isn't that what people really want anyway? A few words and lots of pix?
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Sounds yummy....
 
Ol' V. Gerbil is in Pahrump, for true? Bet they are having fun :rolleyes: Wonder how the Holsteins got past the .25 Uzi:eek:
 
"Actually isn't that what people really want anyway? A few words and lots of pix?"

Not necessarily John. From an educated, articulate man such as yourself, pictures are just window-dressing. The 'meat and potaoes' is in the text. Now from someone such as me (with the mental agility of a soapdish) ...pictures are about all anyone could reasonabily expect :(
 
Bill I hope it's alright if I steal your animated gif?:D

That's really cool!!!!!!
 
Originally posted by Yvsa
Bill I hope it's alright if I steal your animated gif???? :D

That's really cool!!!!!!
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Well what do you know? It actually Worked!!!!!!!!!

Bill if it's not okay just let me know and I will remove it, just feelin like a hoss thief tonight , you know how us skins are when it comes to hosses;), but no hosses, so it's animated gifs instead.:)
 
Please ...take two, there small :D

Actually it's an avatar I made for one of the forumites. But if it catches on and brings more people to the HI community ...great! :)
 
Thanks a million Bill!!!!
I would really like a pair of crossed khukuris over my buffalo
avatar. Is there any way you could help me out with something like that.
The khukuris crossed from corner to corner would be really cool as long as it doesn't erase the Red Buffalo. Can't have nothing like that happening.
Actually what would be really, really cool would be to have the khukuris crossed over the Red Buffalo with
"Himalayan
Imports" at the bottom.

I know there's a couple of guys with really huge size avatars, but somehow they must still be the 50 x 50 pixels. If it could be made a little larger it would all fit in.
I think it would be realy nice although I seldom post outside of the Cantina anymore so not many people would see it except for those who are regulars and those that drop in from time to time.
Do you think you could do something like that???
 
I really like those little guys swinging the kukris. The hell with a book full of words!

Yours truly,
the 'soapdish'
 
There is no other forum on this site like this one!!!:D

I had looked in on this forum a few times in the last year and it seemed like gibberish to me even tho' I've wanted a khukuri since I got my first Atlanta Cutlery catalog over a decade ago. Then a few weeks ago I went to the Himalayan Imports website and things started to make sense. Now I own two HI khuks - 15" Ang Khola and 18" Sirupati - received a week apart.
 
That's how it works, Terr.

I wonder why those little men don't get tired swinging those khukuris?
 
Welcome to the Cantina Terr!!!!:)
You're definitely in good company here, some of would even say, "Great Company!!!!":D

My sweet wife is from Warren PA, how far is that from you?
 
but here it is anyway, what I found out:

Martin Huld
Sanskrit khura- looks like a Prakritism for classical ksura-m 'razor' (cf.
Skt. ksira- 'whet' Pali khira, Avestan xsira-); you should be able to find
an etymology for ksura- in Mayhofer and Pokorny, for it is cognate with Gk.
ksuron 'razor'. Allegedly the root is Old Indo-Aryan is ksnu- 'whet'. From this basis
Latin novacula 'razor' is brought into the discussion presumably with
simplification of a cluster *ksneueA-tlo-, as Mallory and Adams do. The
etymology is however a root etymology with various forms built on a root
ksu- (Gk ksuo 'shave' Skt. ksnau-ti 'whets'; the Lat. is based on an n-infix
ks.ne.u-. Some have imagined that the Greek and Sanskrit forms being
eastern are loans from a third language, but the inability to define that
language and the presence of a verbal root in both and possible Italic
cognates all speak against such a radical interpretation.

I would imagine that the Nepalese form is a derivative of Prakritic 'razor'
khur- with reduplication k(h)u-khur- and an in-derivative 'bladed' vel sim
(cf. hastin- 'elephant' < 'handed one' from hasta 'hand' + -in). Greek also
has i-derivatives eg ksuris ksurion etc.
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So there it is. ;) For some reason I forgot the Prakrits' ('degraded' vernacular versions of Sanskrit) tendency to simply consonant clusters, so KSH -> KH -- if you say KSH fast enough in succesion, eventually you'll end up at KH (try it). And the reduplication seems right. Reduplication is often used to emphasise, or indicate a 'large' version: thus khukuree you might say is a 'big razor' (not quite). essentially the sense is what I thought, the word is related to the terms for sharpening (like 'whetstone') and sharp things (like 'razor').

Still, in the end, the etymology doesn't tell you what a 'khukuree' is - in that sense it's like any other word, there may be a 'reason' that the word for 'khukuree' is KHUKUREE (i.e. it's related to words for sharp & sharpening), but it's a word that's come to apply to a particular object.

Hope that is clarifying/interesting or something.

cheers, Ben.
 
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