guardless nimcha

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by ariel

In his book "The races of Afghanistan" Henry Bellew discusses Nimchas, "The Half-and-Half", ie mixed race or converted "Kaffirs"

And Elgood and others explained that the very term Nimcha stems from Arabic Nim, half, and -cha, a diminutive suffix.

Thus, nothing specific sword-related. Kind of "Shorty":-)

Salaams Ariel...I suspect this word has been misunderstood somewhere down the line. Nim isn't Arabic... Nuss would be...but Nim is Baluchi. it is also Persian (nim meaning half) as the mercenaries on the Zanj coast were largely from Iranian Baluchistan) Thus I suspect it was coined by the vast numbers of Baluch mercenaries on the Zanj not least the many squadrons employed to attack Fort Jesus by Said the Great after 1830...Please note the number of Baluch mercenaries also employed on exploration and with Burton far inland around the great lakes and in many places on the Zanj and of course stationed on Zanzibar.

Common practice in Baluch word twisting and bastardized phraseology I can see how Nimcha came about though I am still tracing the cha part...Does cha mean anything?....or is it just a handy ending... Nimcha... As a diminutive suffix yes I can see that and I use chamcha as another example...It means spoon...but the cha seems entirely superfluous except as a suffix of no meaning. When looking at the plural form it is important to be able to for the plural. In Army parlance Baluch if you want to say complicated mix up you use the singular and plural together agadam-bagadam... so I imagine swords... Nimchas would form around the structure Nimcha Chimcha....M is commonly substituted when nothing else works thus Gari Mari is plural for carts or cars. Table mable for tables. Kursi Mursi for chairs. There will be a quiz later on Baluch linguistics...

Oddly there is a Nimcha as a place in India which I am also looking at... What is more weird is how if this is a Baluch word did it backwash onto North African swords?....and when did the word start being used?...I might add that Nimcha are not at all all short as the Butin chart shows many full length and is why I posit that the term means single edged blade...of that type.

In addition I note a peculiarity on top of the Pommel of the Zanzibari type which has been considered before as a scorpion..but which I think is in fact a Turtle. That makes abundant sense as a ship borne weapon relating the type to the sea...(and that area; Zanzibar and North to Muscat as a huge Turtle breeding area)... The two ideas seem to interlock. The shorter version certainly advantageous at sea whilst the longer at Forts and shore locations. In both I would expect to see the Turtle insignia being common on the Zanzibar type and not on the Moroccan.... Which of course is true.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.