lapin-puukko (aka puukko) revisited

tom hyle · 29th April 2005, 05:07 AM

As I mentioned on the old forum, the leuko, flatter, wider, and including a version that's longer than puuko is AFAIK the usual finnish (Suomen)/Lappish (Sammi) knife, and is essentially a butchering knife similar to bichaq, as Suomen is related to Turkish. while the thicker, heavier-edged puuko is well suited for woodcarving. Some aspect of this distinction may be N American interpretation; the cultural distribution or naming issue, but not the structure. It remains my impression that puuko is a compound word meaning "wood knife" I read that in an article on puukos in a woodworking magazine. I do not think the author distinguished (or maybe knew) whether it's a knife for cutting wood or a knife for in the woods; it's usually good for both/either. I suppose I could look for an online dictionary, but then my success with the Latin ones was so miserable, and it doesn't seem tremendously important to me.......Whether the puuko is more German in its origins I don't know, but it seems to shake out that way to at least some extent within the modern setting, as far as which is more preferred as a general carry knife (we might suspect both cultures produce and use both butchering and carving knives). My puuko was a gift from a Finn who said it is the style favoured by the minority Swedes in Finnland. To clarify my language and thinking on this matter; Danes and Norse are Germans. Turks and Kazaks are Tartars. Innuits and Eskimos are North People (currently Nunnavut). Finns, Lapps, and to a lesser degree Swedes seem to fall somewhat in between, culturally, genetically, linguistically, and all of this is as one would expect from a map. A passing note of possible interest; the old traditional sheath is generally made of reindeer/caribou antler or bone (both are/were used) exposed and carved at the tip, and with a covering and upper (to borrow a shoe term) of the deer's hide, while the handle is generally birch, often burl for fanciness. Baltic birch is harder, stronger, and perhaps more weather resistant that paper birch, BTW, for the information of the N Americans who might be more familiar with that specie.
Randomish thoughts of possible interest: Ancient German tales often did not much distinquish between supernatural creatures, competing animals, or foreign or otherwise objectionable humans; all, including the risen dead, could be called "trolls" a word that seems closely equivalent in that sense to the modern N American English usage of the word "monster" Lapps and Finns are sometimes creditted with esoteric knowledge in Scandinavian folklore, and I sometimes wonder how this relates to both the magic Tartar steel (bulat/wootz) and famous "dwarf" and "Juten" smiths............................................ ..................................

29th April 2005, 05:07 AM	#5
tom hyle Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Houston, TX, USA Posts: 1,254	As I mentioned on the old forum, the leuko, flatter, wider, and including a version that's longer than puuko is AFAIK the usual finnish (Suomen)/Lappish (Sammi) knife, and is essentially a butchering knife similar to bichaq, as Suomen is related to Turkish. while the thicker, heavier-edged puuko is well suited for woodcarving. Some aspect of this distinction may be N American interpretation; the cultural distribution or naming issue, but not the structure. It remains my impression that puuko is a compound word meaning "wood knife" I read that in an article on puukos in a woodworking magazine. I do not think the author distinguished (or maybe knew) whether it's a knife for cutting wood or a knife for in the woods; it's usually good for both/either. I suppose I could look for an online dictionary, but then my success with the Latin ones was so miserable, and it doesn't seem tremendously important to me.......Whether the puuko is more German in its origins I don't know, but it seems to shake out that way to at least some extent within the modern setting, as far as which is more preferred as a general carry knife (we might suspect both cultures produce and use both butchering and carving knives). My puuko was a gift from a Finn who said it is the style favoured by the minority Swedes in Finnland. To clarify my language and thinking on this matter; Danes and Norse are Germans. Turks and Kazaks are Tartars. Innuits and Eskimos are North People (currently Nunnavut). Finns, Lapps, and to a lesser degree Swedes seem to fall somewhat in between, culturally, genetically, linguistically, and all of this is as one would expect from a map. A passing note of possible interest; the old traditional sheath is generally made of reindeer/caribou antler or bone (both are/were used) exposed and carved at the tip, and with a covering and upper (to borrow a shoe term) of the deer's hide, while the handle is generally birch, often burl for fanciness. Baltic birch is harder, stronger, and perhaps more weather resistant that paper birch, BTW, for the information of the N Americans who might be more familiar with that specie. Randomish thoughts of possible interest: Ancient German tales often did not much distinquish between supernatural creatures, competing animals, or foreign or otherwise objectionable humans; all, including the risen dead, could be called "trolls" a word that seems closely equivalent in that sense to the modern N American English usage of the word "monster" Lapps and Finns are sometimes creditted with esoteric knowledge in Scandinavian folklore, and I sometimes wonder how this relates to both the magic Tartar steel (bulat/wootz) and famous "dwarf" and "Juten" smiths............................................ .................................. Last edited by tom hyle; 29th April 2005 at 05:31 AM.