Legendary, thank you so much for the further rationale here!
So if I understand correctly these bladed 'tools' which myself and the collectors/dealers etc and authors of numbers of references have, for most of the decades I have studied the history and development of arms........are NOT knives?
I think I can see a pattern here, and if I may offer some analogies.......and I am sure this topic could bring volumes.
In the 18th century, after the major uprisings in the Jacobite rebellions in 1715 and 1745, the British occupying Scotland PROSCRIBED all weapons , primarily of course the beloved Highland basket hilts. The EXCEPTION was the large dagger known as the dirk. It was held that as a utility item, these large daggers were acceptably permitted, while of course, many thousands of basket hilts were hidden away.
I just published a paper on the Spanish colonial short hangers known popularly in modern references as the 'espada ancha'. These were with the hilts resembling hunting swords, however with heavy blacksmith made blades....which were used primarily in utility functions, including brushing trails etc.
The thing is that in truth, these hangers, always deemed 'swords/thus a weapon' were always classified as weapons.....(I have studied these for over 40 years).........yet in their period of use.......they were known only as
MACHETES!
What is a machete? a TOOL.
The term espada ancha was a modern mistranslation used by writers and collectors because the term machete presented the wrong connotation.
I could of course go on, if we were to look into the many cases of the proscription of edged weapons in British India.......the Khyber areas; the Coorgs in Malabar etc etc.
Uprisings? it seems there were some in most of the cases where edged 'WEAPONS' were proscribed/
In history, the masses in the assembled armies were typically peasantry carrying all manner of TOOLS and IMPLEMENTS such as billhooks, scythes etc.......only well resourced fighters could afford swords and 'weapons'.
While I very much appreciate the ratiocination .......I just wanted to add some of the perspective I have understood over the years in the study of edged weapons and their history. What I am saying is that in wording or classification......there is a gossamer fine line between tool and weapon.
I suppose Shakespeare's line, a rose by any other name is still a rose might be seen differently here.........a tool might be a weapon if used as one...regardless of what it is called.
PHOTO: a very formidable looking TOOL, known as the Canary tool.
