ODD PHILIPPINE, TOOL/KNIFE

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by VANDOO

NOT ONLY ARE THESE SORTS OF TOOL/WEAPONS USED BY MORE PEOPLE THEY ARE STILL A LIVING PART OF THE SOCIETY NOT JUST SOMETHING BROUGHT OUT FOR SPECIAL OCCASIONS. I SAW THE TALIBON STILL BEING CARRIED IN THE COUNTRY BY MANY LOCALS WHEN I VISITED THE PHILIPPINES AND IT IS GOOD TO SEE YET ANOTHER NEAT WORK KNIFE STILL WIDELY IN USE.

yes vandoo, these utility blades are still very much part of the lives of people in the provinces (i.e., non-urbanized areas).

like when the farmer asks his ten-year old son to bring home the carabao grazing in the field, the first thing the boy will do will be to strap on his waist his own junior-size bolo (as field utility tool).

on a related matter, an often overlooked known use of a horn hilt is that when shaved and powdered, it serves as coagulant vs. bleeding (this is common knowledge in the philippines).

Originally Posted by KuKulzA28

lagaraw = log-a-rao.... that's oddly similar to how the Taiwanese aboriginal Atayal tribe's headhunting knife is pronounced...

laraw = loh-rao... ao like in cow

coincidence or similarities in Austronesian languages?

that's a very good point. and methinks that they are linguistically related, like the other words --

parao - Tagalog (Phils.)
folau - Polynesia
barau - Efate
farau - Tahiti
volau - Fiji
poruku - Futuna
palahu - Indonesia
prau - Indonesia
broa - Formosa
palwa - Tagalog (Phils.)

bangka - Philippines
wangka - Malay, Indonesia
waka - Maori, Tonga, etc.
vaka - Vaturana, Savo, etc.
vaga - Alite
va'a - Tahiti
wa - Mate, Lamenu, Nul, etc.
waha - Ceram
wak - Numer
paki - Fila
wakten - Port Vato