Tom:
I've always been a little confused by the use of "recurved." Whether the term applies to the cutting edge or the overall shape of the blade. Is there a standard "recurved" shape and a mirror-image "reverse-recurved" shape? And it is interesting to note whether the resulting blade is usually forward-weighted (towards the tip), as seems to be the fashion for most standard recurved blades, or back-weighted (towards the hilt) as may be seen here with a reverse-recurved blade. You raise some good questions about terminology and the function of these various shapes.
Those for whom English is not their first language must get some amusement from the way we spend time sorting through word definitions and syntax.
Ian.
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Originally Posted by tom hyle
Interesting that the swelling seems to be thought of as distinctly SE Asian; I had considered it fairly distinctly European; interesting if we ever find out which way that spread.
BTW, The term recurve is AFAIK being used incorrectly here. A recurved blade is not one that curves forward (is the thinking that this is a "re"verse curve?), but one that curves one way, and then the other, usually forward and then back (ie curves and then re-curves; to re-do means to do again; curves then curves again; note that a sword is spoken of as curving; the verb form is used, even though it is not actually performing action, but just sitting there with a curve; seems odd to me suddenly, and perhaps to non-native readers of English, but language often is odd, and this usage is not limitted to weapons); thus the cutting edge of this sword is techincally recurved, though in the opposite of the usual manner; more normally recurved edges are on kukuri, for instance. More swords have a recurved cutting edge than an overall recurved shape. More usually the swelling this implies is toward the tip (ala kukuri), rather than toward the base of the blade, as here, but then that may just be of examples I've seen, and may be influenced by the prevalence of weapons over tools in my sampling of foreign blades........
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