ID Omani Jambiya

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by A.alnakkas

Salam Ibrahim,

عبالي انت واحد ثاني السموحة ولد عمي:-)

Thats very possible regarding kattarah. But I wouldnt accept that immediately because there is an Arabic word "ktr كتر" that the following meanings can be derived from; the middle of (anything) the camel hump. The beam which hold the tent up. The hawdaj (female tent put over camels) and the high thing (high building etc)

So what do you think?

Salaams A.alnakkas~ One thing is certain... Like frozen weapons systems the Arabic language gives a very accurate indicator to some of the detective work we are all doing.
I have a number of word search quandrys on my desk e.g. Khanjar, Kattarah, Sayf Yamani to name a few. Antony North explains fully the situation regarding weapons freeze on trusted old technology that has been retained in Arabia but I see no fully informative work on Arabic linguistics as obviously it exists as does slang and dialect particularly in regions with prior, poor communications such as Mussandam, Jebel Akhdar, The desert Rub al Qali and Yemen..

In this regard since the subject is Khanjar ~
Khanjar. Metropolitan Museum of Art ; "INDIA" by Stuart Cary Welch; Art and Culture 1300 to 1900. Page 303.

Quote "Khanjar is an Arabic word used in Islamic countries for different weapons etc. Khanjars were commonly used in India from about 1600."

I would rather like to push on with practical research at this point since I can see how contrasting viewpoints on word meaning will get us not very far and accepting the above commonly recognised facts we move forward.

As a tempting morsel of what is to come regarding the Omani Khanjar I am am about to unravel the mystery around the real reason for the bend in the scabbard so long erroneosly thought to be for balance and design. That may take some explaining ...but I am on it !

Regards Ibrahiim al Balooshi.