Shashka??? Or what ????

ariel · 30th March 2016, 04:41 AM

Jim,
I cannot agree more. This is a saber-like weapon assimilating influences from multiple sources. However, this is not a modern composite stuff. Somebody somewhere some time created it as it is and as a serious weapon.
My question was what is the most likely place and the most likely time of its manufacture. Having seen the unobstructed view if the box-like fullering together with the construction of the handle, I vote for Afghanistan, 19th century.

Your point of misapplication of the "name game" is well taken. While it is important to dig out the original (native) names of the weapons, we might do well to remember that many names with deep roots in the Western glossaries are just figments of European imagination and poor transliteration: no native Afghani of the 19th century would use "Khyber Knife", "Salawar Yataghan", " Karud" or "Pulwar". We use them as a form of a stenographic "quick-and-dirty" moniker to let us know what we are dealing with, but they are completely artificial and foreign for a native owner.

Not for nothing did Elgood and Hales limit the use of presumably "native" names in their recent books.

And BTW many genuine Caucasian shashkas carried strongly curved Persian shamshir and European saber blades. Also, not to forget that most of the earliest Circassian shashkas carried European trade saber blades rather than locally-made ones.

30th March 2016, 04:41 AM	#40
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Jim, I cannot agree more. This is a saber-like weapon assimilating influences from multiple sources. However, this is not a modern composite stuff. Somebody somewhere some time created it as it is and as a serious weapon. My question was what is the most likely place and the most likely time of its manufacture. Having seen the unobstructed view if the box-like fullering together with the construction of the handle, I vote for Afghanistan, 19th century. Your point of misapplication of the "name game" is well taken. While it is important to dig out the original (native) names of the weapons, we might do well to remember that many names with deep roots in the Western glossaries are just figments of European imagination and poor transliteration: no native Afghani of the 19th century would use "Khyber Knife", "Salawar Yataghan", " Karud" or "Pulwar". We use them as a form of a stenographic "quick-and-dirty" moniker to let us know what we are dealing with, but they are completely artificial and foreign for a native owner. Not for nothing did Elgood and Hales limit the use of presumably "native" names in their recent books. And BTW many genuine Caucasian shashkas carried strongly curved Persian shamshir and European saber blades. Also, not to forget that most of the earliest Circassian shashkas carried European trade saber blades rather than locally-made ones.