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Old 12th July 2007, 03:47 AM   #10
derek
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Slightly changing the topic, there is a piha currently offered at Lion's Gate with a very old hand written label that calls it a "pihiye", along with the phrase "Sinhalese hunter's knife".

That's interesting to me, because it supports Mr. Mohan Daniel's assertion (he owns the Serendib Gallery in Colombo) that simply "pihiya" (his spelling) is the correct general name for these knives. He explained that "da kaetta" is a different, sickle-shaped type of work knife. The term piha kaetta was something of an oxymoron to his Sinhalese ear. I think the term piha kaetta is officially stuck in the west and there's no hope of changing it, but it was probably a slight error on the part of Mr. Stone.

-d
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