Shula S'boula/Jiboula

[RobT]

Hi All,

I know that it sounds like the beginning of a verse from Shirley Ellis' name game song but I was wondering how forum members would classify this knife. The hilt is clearly an s’boula/jiboula form but the blade and sheath are just as clearly shula. I’ll come right out with my opinion that it should be considered an s’boula/jiboula because the hilt was placed on the blade by a person of the s’boula/jiboula culture. But were the situation the other way around (shula hilt on an s’boula/jiboula blade), I’m not so sure I would want to call it a shula. What do you guys think?

Sincerely,
RobT

[TVV]

When it comes to ethnographic arms, we tend to classify swords and daggers by their hilt. For example, the same blade can be a takouba, a kaskara or even a firangi, depending on the hilt.

Based on this then, this would be a sboula.

[Ian]

Originally Posted by TVV

When it comes to ethnographic arms, we tend to classify swords and daggers by their hilt. For example, the same blade can be a takouba, a kaskara or even a firangi, depending on the hilt.

Based on this then, this would be a sboula.

TVV, you raise an interesting point. I would agree with you that many cultures do look at the "dress" of a sword or knife to ascertain which group's name is used to describe it. However, I don't think this applies to all ethnographic arms. Keris owners within the Indonesian culture, for example, have a detailed classification system based on the dhapur of the blade (regardless of dress).

[RobT]

Hi All,

I decided to resurrect this thread because of a map in the online sample of Hans Wealth’s book (https://www.armes-anciennes-du-maroc..._selection.pdf). The map shows areas for the Moroccan khanjar, shula, s’boula, and various styles of koummya, The areas for both the shula and s’boula are in the northernmost part of Morocco. The shula area is roughly oriented east to west and extends over almost all of the Alboran seacoast (part of the Mediterranean) while the s’boula area is roughly oriented north to south and its coastline is mostly on the Atlantic with a small portion on the Alboran seacoast. The s’boula area is larger than the shula area.
The important thing is that the shula and s’boula areas overlap in part. This likely explains why my dagger wound up with an s’boula hilt on a shula blade and sheath.

Sincerely,
RobT

[werecow]

It appears the link to the pdf is broken Rob.

[RobT]

werecow,

I took this link (https://www.armes-anciennes-du-maroc..._selection.pdf) from the original supplied by Pertinax. I tried it in that original thread and it worked. I don't know why mine doesn't, so I bookmarked the site.

Sincerely,
RobT

[RobT]

werecow,

If you go to the original thread (A koummya- and contexts) started by Jim Mcdougall on 03/27/25 (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=30588) and click on the link supplied by Pertinax on 3/28/25, it works but if you copy it over (as I did for this thread), it doesn’t work. I can’t figure that one out.

Sincerely,
RobT

[werecow]

Originally Posted by RobT

werecow,

If you go to the original thread (A koummya- and contexts) started by Jim Mcdougall on 03/27/25 (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=30588) and click on the link supplied by Pertinax on 3/28/25, it works but if you copy it over (as I did for this thread), it doesn’t work. I can’t figure that one out.

Sincerely,
RobT

I think the software abbreviated the text for the link in the original post and you probably copied the text instead of the link by accident. Let's try that again.

[Jim McDougall]

Terms for ethnographic arms are typically problematic, and for many years here we have referred to these NAME GAMES (not many younger folks here likely recall Shirley Ellis!) as just that, banana fana fo fana!!

These with the curious 'I' handle hilt seem to recall the early European form known as baselard, and like numbers of elements of Moroccan arms appear to reflect those influences. Like most weapons in tribal settings, diffusion via trade networks and nomadic movement was expected, and these seem to have moved eastward.
Some of these were known with similar hilts etc. in Ethiopia (as noted in several references) sometimes inscribed in Amharic, but are not considered indiginous to those regions.
Beyond this, undoubtedly via trade networks to the south, they ended up as far as Zanzibar, where Burton ("Book of the Sword", 1884) may have encountered them, however his reference to them was taken from Auguste Demmin (1877) who described them as from Zanzibar.

Charles Buttin (1933) who lived much of his life in Morocco, corrected this in his descriptions to properly s'bula from there, noting the Demmin/Burton discrepancy(#1032,1033)

Many of these, from the more consistent Moroccan context, seem to be fit with old bayonet blades, and as with these kinds of tribal weapons and continuous remounting, any number of blade types may be encountered.