the Kampilan exclusively Moro?

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by MaharlikaTimawa

"The word kampilan came into Spanish during the Moluccan campaigns of the sixteenth century as "a heavy, pointed cutlass [alfange]" -- inappropriately, however, since a cutlass had a curved blade weighted toward the tip for slashing blows, while the kampilan was straight. (Modern ones are two-handed weapons running to 90 centimeters.) It apparently was never manufactured by Visayan smiths but imported from parts of Mindanao, both Muslim and pagan, which had direct culture contact with the Moluccas. Like the kris, it was coated with poison before going into battle, and the fiction that the weapon itself has been rendered poisonous by some alchemy no doubt enhanced its market value. Fine ones were handed down from father to son, bore personal names known to the enemy, and could be recognized by the sound of little bells which formed part of their tasseled decoration."

MaharlikaTimawa, I draw particular attention to the notes above that I have highlighted in bold and the previous sentence.

I see no error in your historical notation about these Kampilan being a heavy pointed cutlass, they may well have been in the day, much more so than later times...I say this because I own a curved cutlass sized Kampilan.

Gavin

[Timo Nieminen]

Plenty of straight cutlasses out there, too. Curved isn't necessary.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Timo Nieminen

Plenty of straight cutlasses out there, too. Curved isn't necessary.

Well noted Timo!
The term 'cutlass' seems often rather collectively applied in many references and contemporary narratives. I think it is much in the same way as many military swords and others are referred to as 'sabres' though their blades are virtually straight. Then there is the term 'scimitar', which is more of a notion than a sword 'type', characteristically an embellished reference to an 'Oriental' curved sabre.

As we discuss many of these sword forms and look to early accounts and descriptions of these by 'term', it can of course be confounding as we cannot be certain the semantics correspond to our modern perceptions.