Interesting Takouba

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by stephen wood

...no, I don't have it yet but as far as I can see there are no markings on the blade.

Of interest - the Hausa word for "sword" is said to be "takobi" (singular) "takoba" (plural). The Nouba word for the same is "fareynga".

Many thanks for your encouragement.

Interesting to see that the term 'takouba' from the tamasheq language of the Tuareg is also in the Hausa language as noted. It seems the 'Kano' dialect is the most commonly used Hausa dialect and also used with Fulani....I dont believe the term takouba is used in Fulani, at least not from what I have learned from Fulani speakers.

Also interesting to see the term 'fareynga' for sword in the Nuba language, apparantly this term, seems remarkably close to the familiar 'firangi' which is known in western regions in India as referring to a 'foreign' blade. The term itself seems with Persian root that evolved into use in Arab and other languages, with that general meaning, and often applied to swords.

Terminology of weapons is always an adventure, and has been to topic of lots of discussions through the years. Im certainly no linguist, but have learned a lot from those who sometimes post here who are.