Mystery spear

A. G. Maisey · 4th August 2023, 08:42 AM

Nenggala is, I believe, North Coast Jawa terminology for this blade form, in Central Jawa it is known as a "Cis" (pron. : "chis"). The Javanese word "cis" means "angkus" or "elephant goad".

In East Jawa it is known as "pancing buaya" = "crocodile fish hook", for the very good reason that it was used as a crocodile spear.

In parts of East Jawa these were still being made & used as crocodile spears up until about 1950.

Interestingly, the word "nenggala" means "plough" in some dialects & in Balinese, it does not take much imagination to understand the similarity in form of this blade shape to the shape of a Javanese/Balinese plough blade.

Gustav

Do we know where in Raffles that this word "nenggala" appears, & if it is connected to a picture of the implement under discussion?

Amongst the plates following P296, Vol.1 there is picture of a spear that has a "forked" head, both double & single examples, that is very vaguely similar to the nenggala, but it is identified as a "tumpuling".

This name might indicate it is some sort of hunting spear : "tumpu/numpu" means to hunt , I think specifically to hunt deer --- these are guesses, but informed guesses.

4th August 2023, 08:42 AM	#6
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	Nenggala is, I believe, North Coast Jawa terminology for this blade form, in Central Jawa it is known as a "Cis" (pron. : "chis"). The Javanese word "cis" means "angkus" or "elephant goad". In East Jawa it is known as "pancing buaya" = "crocodile fish hook", for the very good reason that it was used as a crocodile spear. In parts of East Jawa these were still being made & used as crocodile spears up until about 1950. Interestingly, the word "nenggala" means "plough" in some dialects & in Balinese, it does not take much imagination to understand the similarity in form of this blade shape to the shape of a Javanese/Balinese plough blade. Gustav Do we know where in Raffles that this word "nenggala" appears, & if it is connected to a picture of the implement under discussion? Amongst the plates following P296, Vol.1 there is picture of a spear that has a "forked" head, both double & single examples, that is very vaguely similar to the nenggala, but it is identified as a "tumpuling". This name might indicate it is some sort of hunting spear : "tumpu/numpu" means to hunt , I think specifically to hunt deer --- these are guesses, but informed guesses. Last edited by A. G. Maisey; 4th August 2023 at 09:22 AM.