Origins of Gorda/Gurda

ariel · 6th January 2008, 02:48 AM

Anyone into Caucasian weapons knows what I mean: shashkas with the "eyelashes" mark were called Gorda ( or, apparently in Russian pronounciation, Gurda) and were viewed as the cream of the crop. The origins of this word remain murky.
During the recent long and boring X-Mas/New Year break, I read Askhabov's book "Chechen Weapons" " ( among others).
He attributes the word Gorda/Gurda to either aul (village) Gordali, or to a semimythical master Gordali. In between, there are the usual legends about one Chechen killing another while screaming " Gur Da!' ( i.e. "I'll show you!"), quotations from Lermontov and Tolstoi, crazy derivations like " owner of a trap", "master of power " etc.
None of this is convincing.
The reasons:
1.The Gorda/Gurda blades all ( by definition) have the "eyelash" mark. Thus, their origin must be somehow connected with Europe.
2. The earliest the word Gorda or its derivative appear in Chechen vocabulary is 17th/early 18th century. Thus, we have a time frame.
3. There are no Gorda Kindjals. All of them are shashkas.

I suggest that the true origin of Gorda/Gurda is Hungarian word "Kard" i.e. simply "sword".

European blades of 17-18th centuries were immensely popular all around the Caucasus, Hungarian especially. A good chunk of them were made not in Hungary, but in Germany and N.Italy. This may explain the Genoese eyelashes. In Poland, whose blades were also widely used and highly respected in the Caucasus, the Hungarian Kord was called Korda.
The phonetics, the timing and the location fit.
What I think happened, the merchants brought Hungarian/Polish blades and called them by their real name: Korda or Kard. Subsequent importation of mass-produced Genoese and German blades required marketing tricks. These were just called by the known name. And the idea stuck.
No different from many manufacturers of soft drinks calling their brown goo " cola". Or,we "xerox" documents, even though the actual machine might be Fuji or something else.

Any counter-arguments?

6th January 2008, 02:48 AM	#1
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Origins of Gorda/Gurda Anyone into Caucasian weapons knows what I mean: shashkas with the "eyelashes" mark were called Gorda ( or, apparently in Russian pronounciation, Gurda) and were viewed as the cream of the crop. The origins of this word remain murky. During the recent long and boring X-Mas/New Year break, I read Askhabov's book "Chechen Weapons" " ( among others). He attributes the word Gorda/Gurda to either aul (village) Gordali, or to a semimythical master Gordali. In between, there are the usual legends about one Chechen killing another while screaming " Gur Da!' ( i.e. "I'll show you!"), quotations from Lermontov and Tolstoi, crazy derivations like " owner of a trap", "master of power " etc. None of this is convincing. The reasons: 1.The Gorda/Gurda blades all ( by definition) have the "eyelash" mark. Thus, their origin must be somehow connected with Europe. 2. The earliest the word Gorda or its derivative appear in Chechen vocabulary is 17th/early 18th century. Thus, we have a time frame. 3. There are no Gorda Kindjals. All of them are shashkas. I suggest that the true origin of Gorda/Gurda is Hungarian word "Kard" i.e. simply "sword". European blades of 17-18th centuries were immensely popular all around the Caucasus, Hungarian especially. A good chunk of them were made not in Hungary, but in Germany and N.Italy. This may explain the Genoese eyelashes. In Poland, whose blades were also widely used and highly respected in the Caucasus, the Hungarian Kord was called Korda. The phonetics, the timing and the location fit. What I think happened, the merchants brought Hungarian/Polish blades and called them by their real name: Korda or Kard. Subsequent importation of mass-produced Genoese and German blades required marketing tricks. These were just called by the known name. And the idea stuck. No different from many manufacturers of soft drinks calling their brown goo " cola". Or,we "xerox" documents, even though the actual machine might be Fuji or something else. Any counter-arguments?