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Old 12th March 2006, 07:13 AM   #17
ham
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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Jeff confirms what several have said; Elgood takes up this subject in some detail, more Forumites ought to consider it.
Don't recall whether it was in Elgood or elsewhere-- bedouins referred to a particular type of blade as majjar which certainly supports the contention that they distinguished Hungarian from among other blades. The word exists in Hungarian of course, as well as Turkish and I think passed thence into Arabic.
All manner of European blades were traded through the Porte, both Eastern European, Caucasian copies thereof, and others. I am not aware of any record of their being traded in Arabia directly by Hungarians.
As for the term Kurda I would argue that rather than deriving from the Huingarian for "sword," it is a variation on Gurda which as we know refers to Caucasian-made blades specifically.

Ham
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