Classifying shashka--a serious discussion of typology

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by ariel

Well, in this case tulwar is a pseudo karabela, bauernwehr is a pseudo khyber , and Sosun Pata is a pseudo yataghan . Or vice versa:-)

Superficial similarity is not a ground for mutual classification.

IMHO.

I can not comment on "bauernwehr is a pseudo khyber" but as far as "karabala" goes this is based on the hilt as tulwar have a different hilt, same with "sosun pata" as yataghan have a different hilt. But I think you are mis-understanding my train of thought.

Pseudo implies something that is false or fake etc, this more accurately describes (in my opinion) the current widely accepted term "Bukharan shashka" which from your comments and research seems to fit the description of being pseudo shashka while as you say the Afghan shashka has come commonality with the Caucasian / Circassian shashka possibly making it a form of shashka in its own right.

I just think that the term "pseudo" is more suited to the Bukharan types of sabres that are currently widely described as "shashka". I know that an authority (Lebedinski) previously used "pseudo" to describe the Afghan variety but as has been stated here the Afghan shashka seem to be related in some way to the Caucasian / Circassian shashka while the Bukharan types are not related at all. This seems to make the Bukharan types more of a " bogus, sham, phony, artificial, mock, ersatz, quasi-, fake, false, spurious, deceptive, misleading, assumed, contrived, etc" than the Afghan shashka with is a derivative of the original shashka so not as close to being "pseudo", at least this is how I see it.