[Peter Hudson]

In none of the blades ...Butin shows almost 50 examples, the designs copied are not of blades but of Hilts... Especially in the case of big broad highly decorated European blades too heavy for the task as Cutlasses...Much lighter blades were provided to both styles in Arabian and North African forms.. Zanzibar had access to Hadramauti, other Yemeni and Indian blade making centres...Nimcha in the Meditterranean had access to European blades...Because there are no broad blades in any Nimcha types thus I dont think this was ever considered...

Going back many years the puzzle over Nimcha has baffled everyone...likely because of the blade situation when in fact that is outside of the problem... It was a hilt quillons and scabbard that were needed not blades. Zanzibari form went further with expensive Ivory and gold hilts and the same may be said on some North African examples. Thus it may be that we will never identify the original weapon since that is irrelevant. What we can see is how a hilt form fits the equation but to that has to be added the regional oddities (In the case of Zanzibari Nimchas ) of The Turtle, The Hilt decoration,The D Knuckle Guard , the peculiar quillons, the inscriptions on the equally peculiar quillon endings and the scabbards....

However the design differences are understandable since this is typical of the Omani Ruler who only a few years before had altered the entire hilt of The Sayf Yemaani...adding instead the hilt form which one of his wives had redesigned ...and which also was the new hilt form for a new format Royal Khanjar.....AND of course the invention of a totally new Dancing Sayf with the very flexible blade sharpened on both edges..and presented it with the Omani terrs shield..AND then not only resetting a German curved Cavalry blade discovered in the African Great Lakes with an Omani Sayf hilt striaght from the dancer hilt design.......he struck it with the name previously unheard of calling it after the country in the Great Lakes in which Omani traders were operating...Bunyoro-Kittarah....The Kingdom of The Sword....thus a totally new weapon arrived; The Omani Kittarah..... also awarding that with The Omani Terrs.

From my perspective trying to find the original sword from which the Nimcha originated is impossible...but likely contenders may well be identified for some aspects of design flow..Likely contenders are probably Ottoman Spanish or Italian forms perhaps seen aboard some of the vast numbers of foreign Traders from as early as the 15thC in the Indian Ocean.but several aspects have nothing whatsoever to do with other weapons and are down to regional quirks...outlined above.

Other swords that may have influenced these design aspects include possibly shapes such as is seen on Kastane and broader Foible widths from weapons off the Malibar Coast such as Moplah.

Peter Hudson.