Ethnographic Arms & Armour - What was this? A firangi?

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What was this? A firangi?

Hi guys, I lost on the bidding on this item, mainly because I was not confident in what it was, it looks like a firangi, but that hilt , threw me off a bit (gold button?) :confused:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=009

Please advise

Thanks you
Bally

I think this is indeed a firangi or khanda.

Hi Bally :)

I would say a Firangi... the blade type looks like a number of European sabres ....looks to be a very nice sword....its a shame you never won it .

Regards David

Hi guys, thanks for your comments I wish I had bidded higher now :shrug:

What about the gold ball thing at the bottom, I have not seen this before.

Typically a sword of this type would have a longer "spike" and apparently this has broken at some point in its life and this brass "cap" was placed over the hollow area left after the original length was altered or broken.

Hi RSWORD,

Thats why I was suspicious, as usually there is a spike portruding from the hilt.

Thanks for your comments

I have been curious about the term "Firangi / Farangi" as I always thought it just meant "foreign."

Is there actually a sword type called "Farangi?"

Farangi
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Farangi is a term for foreigners in Persian, possibly linked to the Franks. The word in Arabic (faranji or ferenji) is similar and the word Farangi also appears in Amharic, Urdu and Hindi in reference to foreigners. It can have a derogatory connotation.

Of trivial interest is the fact that in French Polynesia the word for a white man is 'farani' (from 'francais'), whereas the Indonesians used to refer to their colonizers (the Dutch/Hollanders) as 'orang blanda.' Orang is 'man' (hence 'orang utan' - 'man of the forest', and Blanda is the phonic equivalent in Indonesian of 'Hollander').

In the far north and north-east of Australia the Aboriginal peoples also referred to white people as 'Bilanda.' Possibly they got this term from Indonesian fishermen who have fished in Australian waters for centuries.

In the Malay languages, especially Jakarta Betawi, people of middle-eastern or European descent are often referred to as Orang Bule, which also has a derogatory connotation like the words Gora and Firangi in South Asia.

Similarly, the Zulu word for the Boer colonizers is ama-Bulu ('ama' indicating a plural). Which only goes to show that people often adopt into their language a term for all foreigners related to the name of the tribe of a prominent invader or colonizer of their country.

In colonial Sri Lanka, 'Parangi' was used to refer to both Portuguese people and to a form of syphilis called Yaws that was introduced by the Portuguese.

The Ferengi are also an alien race in Star Trek.

Maybe they have swords??? :D :rolleyes: :D