A katar is a katar till......

[ariel]

Originally Posted by Mercenary

... in English there are only one character (and sound) "t".

Not a good example: “ t” is pronounced differently in tank, mother, matter, notion , theater ( two different sounds), thistle ( one is altogether silent), thus, city, natural, not pronounced at all, and then there are other blasted exceptions:-)

G.B. Shaw quipped that the word “fish” should be written “ghoti”: gh as in “enough”, o as in “women” and sh as in “mention”.

I strongly suspect that multiple languages of India have their peculiar phonetic differences, rules and exceptions.

[Mercenary]

Originally Posted by ariel

Not a good example: “ t” is pronounced differently in tank, mother, matter, notion , theater ( two different sounds), thistle ( one is altogether silent), thus, city, natural, not pronounced at all, and then there are other blasted exceptions:-).

Thanks a lot. As I can see it is impossible to originate word "matter" from "mother". That's the point.

[Jim McDougall]

Nihl, , Im very glad we agree on my assessment of your assessment and to the rest of this discourse, I always find these linguistic and transliterations romps entertaining and often interesting.

However I disagree with your use of the word 'silly' in describing any reference by Robert Elgood.
I would acknowledge that perhaps, as with any published author, material could be scrutinized for its content, however I have never known an author who has researched and painstakingly assembled the huge corpus of important data on the subjects he has chosen with the determination he has. He has done so not as a money making venture, but because he has a sincere passion for the study of the arms topics he has chosen.

He has done so by spending much, if not most, of his life 'in the field' to accomplish this research, and all the while working to navigate the treacherous waters of the 'name game' which is the bane of serious arms researchers. ….he has given us the books which have become our guides .
It takes great courage and stamina to accomplish these quests, and as with everything in study, I would regard his work with every measure of respect. Most authors will acknowledge there may be flaws or outright errors in their work, and rather expect and appreciate correction, but deserve respect for all else which recognizes the sound achievements they have presented to us.

I admire the knowledge and linguistic skills of the wordsmiths here, and learn a lot from the entries, but I think in critique, better words could be chosen accordingly.

Having said that, thank you again along with Mercenary for the interesting and detailed entries pertaining to these terms, and I very much agree that the 'sosun pattah' (or whatever it is properly termed) would be a form deserving more thorough investigation. I always welcome the results of group interaction in useful discussions as we have often had here, and agree that such material is not necessarily publishable as is, but certainly gives the content that leads to publication.
To publish takes some pretty 'thick skin', but as I was once told by a very well known author, "...Jim, ignore the critics, most of them have never published anything , just write and as best as you can, tell the people what they need to know".

[ariel]

Elgood did his best trying to transcribe words of one language into another. This is a difficult and thankless task that is opening the “transcriber” to criticisms . I have no idea how the Indian words sound and what would be the best phonetic rendition of Sosun? Sausun? Sauason? Sossun? On top of that the sound should conform to high-class British English. To his advantage he was doing it while staying in India, surrounded by native speakers and professional linguists.

So, guys, perhaps Jim ‘s comments have a grain of truth, and your sniping criticisms reflect not so much phonetic shortcomings of Elgood’s work, but your limited knowledge of languages? Nothing offensive, that can happen to anyone.

Matter ( as substance) and mother come from the same Sanskrit root “ma”,
And BTW, it was Carl Jung ( who by all accounts was not a dummy) who said that the root matter is the mother of all things.

As to the apparent impropriety of using “leaves” in describing “blades”, please recall that leaves of grass are called blades in English, and Walt Whitman is my witness:-)

[Jim McDougall]

As Nihl has noted in previous post, the curious 'Garsoe ' katar/jamadhar which appears in Egerton (p.138, fig. 727) image attached, defies any definition as to 'why' it has been given this term, or for that matter, why its sidebars are scrolled or undulating.

As I previously mentioned, Jens has an incredible knowledge of the katar, pretty much unparalleled, and if he has not found an answer, it is so deeply hidden that possible no accurate solution may be discovered.

We know that seemingly, Egerton made the first reference to this form of jamadhar/katar and decribes it as with 'curved side bars' (plate XIV, #727) as a 'garsoee katar'. ...and from Bhuj, Kach.

These regions are in Ghujerat, with Bhuj a major city and Kach (Cutch) also a key province. Sind (now in Pakistan) is situated north of Gujerat and separated from Gujerat by the huge salt marsh known as the Rann of Cutch.

It does seem that these regions have given us another distinct weapon, commonly called elephant sword (for the fixture on the hilt using that figure) but often termed a 'bhuj'. This is a hafted dagger often seen used by Sindhi horsemen(picture attached).

It would seem that this curious curved bar katar was perhaps named for the place from which it is known(or tribe?) given the propensity to term a weapon in that manner (i.e. bhuj).

Whatever the case, the Egerton(1880) term (again) stood and was perpetuated by other writers. This carried to the great conundrum which was discovered by Jens in research he was doing on this about 15 years ago (seen in posts by him in 2006).
In "Contribution a l'Etude des Armes Orientales" ( Holstein, Paris, 1931, vol. I, plate XIII, #19) a curious extremely simple transverse grip dagger is illustrated...….it is attributed as 'GARSOE KATAR' from Bhoudj, Catch, and from the Henri Moser collection in Musee d' Berne.

However the curator of that museum insisted that no such dagger in the collection (now in storage)existed. It does seem that in Holstein another dagger with the curved bars was shown in the plate. Obviously this must have been a captioning error (?).
While not offering a solution to our dilemma, it seems clear that even by 1931, nobody knew what 'garsoe' meant.

Pant (1980) shows a Garsoe in fig. 489, but reference on p.173 simply refers to the illustration, saying it has already been described.

The images:
1) the Holstein (1931) image of a 'katar' described (apparently wrongly) as garsoe katar, #19, plate XIII
2) 1827 map of Sind and Catch (Kutch) in Gujerat, the water area (in appearance in the huge Rann of Kutch salt marsh (seasonal).
3) Sindhi cavalier wielding bhuj knife (from Haider)
4) the Egerton (1880) entry for garsoee katar (#727,)

[Nihl]

Excellent overview Jim! Unfortunately that summarizes my knowledge of the form as well. I did a little bit of looking around online and found an example that has the more usual two-bar grip instead of a single bar, though it's most likely an outlier and not some big subcategory or anything.

Back to the topic of leafs & blades briefly, my simple contribution is the leaf-bladed sword category itself. This is a style (that I'm sure everyone's familiar with) that is double-edged and has a slightly swollen "belly" or midsection that then tapers back down to a point (like a leaf), found all over the world.

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you Nihl!
This 'Garsoe' topic has got me going and I saw a post of mine from 2012 where I asked (rheotorically) I wonder what that term means?

I found a post by Jens about that time, where he had found a coin from 1871 with an image of a katar with distinctive curved ends on the side bars.
This is atypical for katars (as are the scrolled side bars on 'garsoe'), and the coin is from Nawanagar on the Kathiswar peninsula in Kutch .
It is noted that the suffix 'GAR' (=fort).

In Kathiwar (also in Gujerat) the Kuttee people hsve a key affinity for the katar and regard it as a symbol of honor, to the point that any agreement, oath or contract is signed with the mark of the katar. Any breech of said contract is considered dishonorable and requires 'traga', often simply a cut by the katar but is even more dramatically suicide (seldom carried out).
There are talwars which have a katar marked on the blade, which we presume from these regions.

It would seem that the katar has an unusually key significance in these regions of Kutch in a traditional and symbolic manner, and clearly a certain application of 'design' seems afforded the weaponry there.
The 'garsoe' and this other Kutch form with upturned side guard noted (as pictured) seem to reflect such design features of these regions.

The note on 'GAR' meaning fort gives a clue, that perhaps the design for the garsoe might be attributed to an armory (?) in a local fort in Kutch, where such design was fashioned for someone in the princely retinue, or other person of standing

Going through references, this is what I can find thus far. The entry by Jens where he matched the coin to the shape of the katar hilt illustrates the kind of astute research he carries out on these weapons. Amazing!

While speculative, perhaps tenuous, these factors are worth considering.

[Jens Nordlunde]

I find the research of the names interesting, but what I find more important is the research of the weapons themselves.

I did some research of the katar (How Old is the Katar?), and I do hope that others will follow up on this research, not only on the katar, but on all the Indian weapons, as deep research is the only way to new knowledge.

[Jim McDougall]

Mercenary, that is probably one of the most succinct, brilliantly reasoned analysis' of what we have 'playfully' (if not frustratedly) termed the 'name game' I have ever read. It is abundantly clear that you have indeed spent some years on serious study of Indian languages, and it is more than encouraging to know that you are intent on continuing your work.

I also applaud your recognition that these discussions here, in degree often amateur and sometimes even heated, do often produce important findings, prompted by discovering the proper questions that must be asked.

As you have respectfully noted, the many published references of long venerated and famed authors do not usually hold new information, but I believe serving as key benchmarks for further study, they do often set us well on our way for further research.

I am also grateful for our discussions here, and thank you for your tenacity and patience in sharing the many details of your studies.

Now if we could just solve the mystery of what in the world 'garsoe' means on those perplexing unusual katars (jamadhars)

Like Jens, I find the nomenclature and linguistics interesting (actually quite fascinating) but ultimately it is the weapons' secrets I want to learn.

[Mercenary]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Nihl, ....
However I disagree with your use of the word 'silly' in describing any reference by Robert Elgood.

This was said only about the collage itself, not related to anyone.

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

To publish takes some pretty 'thick skin', but as I was once told by a very well known author, "...Jim, ignore the critics, most of them have never published anything , just write and as best as you can, tell the people what they need to know".

Well said. I will copy it if you allow.

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you guys,
Mercenary, my comment suggested that 'any' reference by Robert Elgood, should not be described (however it is deemed by the reader) openly as 'silly'. I am clearly no linguist, but if I must criticize, I try to do so respectfully.
Normally I would not have rebutted such a statement, and I did mean it respectfully, and hope my view is accepted in kind.

Of course you may copy my 'quote', which is not attributed to its true author and paraphrased by me...it has stayed with me with more years than I recall, but I will never forget being told this.

With this I hope my reaction to this element of otherwise well explained and discussed material is not taken the wrong way, but Robert Elgood is a highly respected author, and deserves rebuttal entered along side any critique publicly. I meant no negative impression toward anyone in doing so, so I hope my 'critique' is accepted accordingly.

[Nihl]

Ah! Jim! So sorry, indeed, as Mercenary said, the "silly" was only meant to describe the collage, not Elgood or his research/writing/books/what-have-you. I added it when, after making the collage, I realized that the effort was rather silly given that I could have just written down the definitions in my post and highlighted specific phrases there. I wasn't at all trying to insult Elgood, and certainly didn't mean to insult you. Super sorry!

On a different note, I was doing some reading in the old Egerton today (mainly because I got a copy out of my local library that is due at the end of the month), and I noticed a few peculiar things.

The most concrete-ish one is the term used to describe a late (as I understand it) form of katar - the Garsoe katar. I've asked Jens about this type previously (in private messages) and I know that he hasn't got a clue as to the origin of the "garsoe" part. Logically I suppose it was just the local name for the type, but what it actually means is of course the big mysterious part.

Even more curious is that at least twice I've found listings for five-bladed katars! They're described as functioning like regular scissor katars, only with two extra blades! Of course these would mostly only function as extra-special status pieces, but their existence in and of themselves is just, well, curious! I'm pretty sure I've only ever seen three blades on a katar, spring-loaded or otherwise.

Relevant pictures attached.

Back on the topic of leafs and blades and what not, I still hold my position on the pat(t)a leaf/sword name theory. Not intending to offend or provoke, but simply speaking unless a more solid explanation/theory can be given for why the two terms are or aren't related, I'm sticking with my position. It just kinda makes sense to me

[Jim McDougall]

Nihl, thank you for the explanation, I totally misunderstood. To extend that, I do not see your efforts here as silly either, in fact pretty well thought out. Interesting further detail on the multi bladed katars, and these, among many Indian weapons have pretty much intrigued and baffled us for more years than I can accurately say.
I think the Garsoe question is quite valid, and admit it has crossed my inquiring mind a number of times but never got too far with it. Now you have me wondering.