kaskara terminology

[Iain]

I thought I might share some of angles I've been looking into as to where the term kaskara comes from, why we use it and if it really covers a type of sword accurately. More or less I think I can present a clear picture for readers on a topic that has been raised on and off in these forums for quite some time. I've hinted at some of this in past threads but I'd like to lay it out a little more clearly. I have to thank Jim for asking a question in the last few days that jogged my memory about some of this and got me looking into it again.

The term in English publications seems to crop up first in Burton's “Book of the Sword” (1884) then in Stone's glossary of arms and armour in 1934.

Generally speaking the term is associated with a sword type in the Sudan and Somali by Arabic speakers who locally term it saif. So the question of course is, why and how does kaskara enter into the picture.

In Stone's glossary the entry contains a telling detail. He labels the kaskara the sword of the Bagirmi – a medium sized kingdom near lake Chad. Where did Stone source this from?

Burton gives no description or illustration of the form as he is discussing in most general terms the swords of the region and merely uses the term in relation to Bagirmi, likely because both Barth and Dixon Denham had visited the kingdom and the area was known.

But the likely reason Burton picked up on the term is a German language publication by the famous explorer Heinrich Barth - "Sammlung und bearbeitung central-afrikanischer vokabularien" from 1862. Barth personally travelled in the regions around lake Chad and took extensive linguistic notes.

In the language of the Bagirmi sword is “kaskara” and we find the root in the Kanuri language. The Kanuri being the dominate group in the area and the founders of the Bornu empire. In Kanuri the term is “kasagar”. For example in a sentence:

“djigei kam su gotse, kannu bago kasagar tsegarin?”
how can one take iron, and beat it into a sword without fire ?

This phrase is taken from "Grammar of the Bórnu or Kanuri language" by Koelle published in 1854.

In fact variations on the word are found among many of the tribal groups in the area like Ngizim in northern Nigeria.

But it seems the Kanuri at least were users of the takouba form (although keeping in mind the local term becomes kasagar). I have shown this in previous threads with photos from the Dikwa emirate – a successor state to the Bornu kingdom. This is to be excepted in my opinion given the historical connections with other takouba users like the Tuareg and Hausa.

However Bivar in “Nigerian Panoply” (1964) notes that the kaskara form can be encountered in the regions of the former Bornu empire. So, where did this sword transmit from?

The first place the term is tied to the form is in Stone.

In my opinion the likely candidates to explain all this are the Shuwa or Baggara Arabs. A nomadic group with long standing connections to the Sultans of Fur (including land grants). Fur was of course an ancient kingdom and the area was well connected with Egypt and the Mamluk influence we can see in the kaskara form, incidentally the local term for sword in the Fur language should be “seer”. The Baggara Arabs have a massive range that extends down into northern Nigeria and Cameroon. They are well known in the areas of Bornu and the Bagirmi kingdoms. Here is a Shuwa horseman photographed in 1910:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...7onn%C3%A9.jpg

During the Mahdist war Baggara Arabs in fact provided a large percentage of the Mahdist forces. The second in command to the Mahdi was in fact a Baggara - Abdallahi ibn Muhammad. Many Baggara Arabs moved to the regions of Omdurman and the central Sudan. It is quite possible other Muslims in the area speaking a Chadic language with kaskara or a variation of the term, also answered the Mahdi's call.

In any case, the term has little bearing on the sword except to perhaps illustrate the range of the form just as takouba is simply a term for sword and not a definition of the form.

I think we collectors can run the risk of misusing a single term to cover a wide ranging form while not taking into account regional linguistics for classification. However, at this point, due to Stone, the term is pretty much stuck in the collecting lexicon as much as I would like to see most 'kaskara' labeled saif.

Comments and discussion welcome.

[Michael Blalock]

Very well done Ian, it is something of a similar issue with Ethiopian swords. I meet a lot of Ethiopians here in DC and have yet to meet one that knows what a Gorade is, they tell me they use the word Saif and that a Shotel is a dagger but of course they have not seen swords commonly used for a century.

[Jim McDougall]

Outstanding Iain!!!and you've as always really taken it by the horns!
I have asked this question about the kaskara term for so many years now I cant recall exactly when it started. I was astonished when absolutely none of the authorities or authors who had written on African weapons had any idea where the term came from. All I knew for certain was that individuals I had talked with from Sudan, Eritrea and from varied tribal groups over several years and none ever heard the word kaskara.
In discussions on these pages I cannot recall this ever being addressed, and the search continued.

Now that I see the etymology outside the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan it does make sense and certainly Burton was aware of the Barth material. His 'Book of the Sword' carries considerable material from other authors, and it makes sense that the use of the term found in Barth did not warrant particular attention as he presumed it to be apparantly widely used throughout these regions.
Very good notes on the probable diffusion of the form, and one young man I spoke with over a period of time was a Fur, and talked about the importance of the sword, which he called a sa'if...also never having heard the word kaskara. He seemed well connected there and talked about the use of crocodile hide and lizard skin in the mounts, as well as the use of the spears etc. However, as he explained, he was far more familiar with the AK47.

Well noted Michael...in Ethiopia these terms are confusingly interchanged though the gurade seems more aligned with the traditional European style sabres, and shotel seems more to the deeply parabolic early types and the shallow curve sabre types...however both were used by tribal warriors well into the 20th century even to WWII. Wilkinson furnished these to Haile Selassie in the 30s. The European hilt gurades seem of course to the military units and auxiliaries. I have not found any established knowledge of the shotel term either outside collectors terms.

All the best,
Jim

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Outstanding Iain!!!and you've as always really taken it by the horns!
I have asked this question about the kaskara term for so many years now I cant recall exactly when it started. I was astonished when absolutely none of the authorities or authors who had written on African weapons had any idea where the term came from. All I knew for certain was that individuals I had talked with from Sudan, Eritrea and from varied tribal groups over several years and none ever heard the word kaskara.
In discussions on these pages I cannot recall this ever being addressed, and the search continued.

Now that I see the etymology outside the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan it does make sense and certainly Burton was aware of the Barth material. His 'Book of the Sword' carries considerable material from other authors, and it makes sense that the use of the term found in Barth did not warrant particular attention as he presumed it to be apparantly widely used throughout these regions.
Very good notes on the probable diffusion of the form, and one young man I spoke with over a period of time was a Fur, and talked about the importance of the sword, which he called a sa'if...also never having heard the word kaskara. He seemed well connected there and talked about the use of crocodile hide and lizard skin in the mounts, as well as the use of the spears etc. However, as he explained, he was far more familiar with the AK47.

Well noted Michael...in Ethiopia these terms are confusingly interchanged though the gurade seems more aligned with the traditional European style sabres, and shotel seems more to the deeply parabolic early types and the shallow curve sabre types...however both were used by tribal warriors well into the 20th century even to WWII. Wilkinson furnished these to Haile Selassie in the 30s. The European hilt gurades seem of course to the military units and auxiliaries. I have not found any established knowledge of the shotel term either outside collectors terms.

All the best,
Jim

Salaams Jim and thanks to Iain and Michael for their very interesting input into the problem of nomenclature and classification locally and internationally of such sword terms. I had a parallel problem with Omani Swords though I think we are now nearer the strict truth now on the straight Sayf and the curved Kattara. Locally no one appears to use the terminology Shamshir as it is curved so comes under the umbrella of Kattara. Sayf appears to be an old Arabic word (meaning Sword) thus predating the 18 and 19th C whereas the word Kattara seems to have washed into dialect with the new long curved single edged weapon apparently in the 18/19C. Very interesting discussion ~Shukran ! Ibrahiim al Balooshi

[Jeff D]

Excellent work Iain!

Jeff.

[Iain]

Thank you all for the kind comments.

Jim,

Interesting your acquaintance from Darfur was also using Arabic term 'saif'. While I have found differing, not Arabic terms in the regions languages, personally I think the influence of Arabic, particularly on the upper classes, cannot be overstated. For one thing, those who were literate would likely have achieved this via religious studies and would have had to learn or at least memorize large amounts of the Koran (In Arabic of course).

There were in fact relatively few European explorers who passed through these regions - Denham and Clapperton, Barth, Nachtigal... I am sure Burton was familiar with all of their writings. The real question for me, is how he arrived at labeling that particular sword type as a kaskara, as far as I can tell from reading all the accounts of Denham etc. none of them specifically associated the Sudanese saif with the term kaskara. Although I finally found the reference in Barth for tying the term to Bagirmi - it is as I expected a simple case of Kanuri influence in the region as he notes many Kanuri terms for arms and armour are find in the region and also used by the various pagan peoples.

This is why I lean heavily towards some British officer or soldier in the field having picked it up from a tribesman who joined the Mahdist forces and journeyed north to fight.

Michael,

I don't know much about Ethiopia, but I think most areas of ethnographic arms study can face this issue. Often I think modern peoples in these areas are perhaps not familiar with some of the terminology due to a lack of modern usage of the words?

Another issue can be that Ethiopia has a great many people and linguistic groups?

I find this area of study both fascinating and frustrating.

Ibrahiim,

Interesting that the term kattara seems newer. Is it an Arabic word in origin?

Jeff,

Thanks! I'd hoped it would be interesting to folks like you who've spent a lot more time delving into kaskara than I have.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Iain

Thank you all for the kind comments.

Jim,

Interesting your acquaintance from Darfur was also using Arabic term 'saif'. While I have found differing, not Arabic terms in the regions languages, personally I think the influence of Arabic, particularly on the upper classes, cannot be overstated. For one thing, those who were literate would likely have achieved this via religious studies and would have had to learn or at least memorize large amounts of the Koran (In Arabic of course).

There were in fact relatively few European explorers who passed through these regions - Denham and Clapperton, Barth, Nachtigal... I am sure Burton was familiar with all of their writings. The real question for me, is how he arrived at labeling that particular sword type as a kaskara, as far as I can tell from reading all the accounts of Denham etc. none of them specifically associated the Sudanese saif with the term kaskara. Although I finally found the reference in Barth for tying the term to Bagirmi - it is as I expected a simple case of Kanuri influence in the region as he notes many Kanuri terms for arms and armour are find in the region and also used by the various pagan peoples.

This is why I lean heavily towards some British officer or soldier in the field having picked it up from a tribesman who joined the Mahdist forces and journeyed north to fight.

Michael,

I don't know much about Ethiopia, but I think most areas of ethnographic arms study can face this issue. Often I think modern peoples in these areas are perhaps not familiar with some of the terminology due to a lack of modern usage of the words?

Another issue can be that Ethiopia has a great many people and linguistic groups?

I find this area of study both fascinating and frustrating.

Ibrahiim,

Interesting that the term kattara seems newer. Is it an Arabic word in origin?

Jeff,

Thanks! I'd hoped it would be interesting to folks like you who've spent a lot more time delving into kaskara than I have.

Salaams Iain,
Kattara. It appears to be a word that came with a sword ... ie the single edged curved sword on a long Omani hilt...sometime in the last 200/300 years ! and any curved derivative including Shamshir. The Craft Herritage of Oman confirms this. It not being an Arabic word has certainly contributed to the confusion. It is noted that Kaskara has caused an equally frustrating search for how it got named made worse by the myriad of different dialects and languages in its operating area. It may never be fully explained

Regards
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Iain]

Hi Ibrahiim,

Well, I think and hope that the term kaskara is now pretty clear.

To take this thread a little offtopic (we can continue on a kattara thread) have you looked into the very old Indian term from the Dravidian language family - "katara"?

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Iain

Hi Ibrahiim,

Well, I think and hope that the term kaskara is now pretty clear.

To take this thread a little offtopic (we can continue on a kattara thread) have you looked into the very old Indian term from the Dravidian language family - "katara"?

Salaams Iain ! No I never heard of it but I'm on it now. Do you have any details of a linkage?..Ibrahiim.

Afternote.. ah I see what you mean .. The Push Dagger of India. It apparently did give rise to the Pata sword though there is no evidence it has any bearing on the big curved Omani derivative that was carried by famous slave traders on the African Coast though the curved Shamshir is also called Kattara in Oman. It appears to have been coined for any curved blade. I assume therefor that it refers to any curved blade here. For Oman therefor:
Kattara = Curved . Saif = Straight.