The Arab Dagger | Hacker News Reader

The Arab Dagger

fordemilitaryantiques.com

81 pointsnelsondev19 comments

How are the scabbards so curvy? Is the blade simply very short?

Yeah, the first photo kind of shows you that. Does seem like a large part of the lower end of the scabbard is for "show"?

Reminds me of shoe designs in that part of the world ending up with a pointy front that curves up.

Indeed.

(source: I'm from the region)

The only practical use I can think of it is that it makes it easier to ensure that when you pull on the handle, the blade comes out quickly instead of yanking the whole assembly along.

A bit of the two. The blade isn't the full length of the scabbard, but reaches a good length of it (usually four-fifths of it). But it's also reasonably curved enough.

Historically in the Arab countries, people mainly rode camels or horses while wearing a dagger in their belt. A pointy scabbard would foible the wearer in the leg and groin. Curving the scabbard solves that problem nicely.

The blades do tend to be fairly short but longer than you would imagine as they too are curved.

>A pointy scabbard would foible the wearer in the leg and groin. Curving the scabbard solves that problem nicely.

This is one of those comically out of touch armchair historian takes.

Curved blades were made back then for the same reason they are still made. They are effective at killing other humans quickly. Aimed at a throat or other vulnerable point the blade is highly likely to drag across an artery on the withdrawal thereby quickly ending your confrontation.

Curved blades don't work as well on animals with fur and thick hides.

Many of the scabbards in the article are so curved that it would be impossible to pull a blade of the same shape out of them. I'm sure that's what arthem was referring to.

With the daggers that I have seen and handled, the blade is curved but does not run the full length of the scabbard. It is not unusual for the blade of a L shaped scabbard to be cresent shaped[1], meaning that it is quite easy to pull the blade out.

[1] https://www.rct.uk/collection/62815/jambiya-dagger-and-scabb...

>This is one of those comically out of touch armchair historian takes.

Having lived in the Middle East and owned a traditional curved dagger, I can safely say that the type of dagger mentioned in the original article is not used primarily for warfare. They serve as a symbol of manhood and social status. It is seen as highly disrespectful and dishonorable for a man to draw his dagger.

> Curved blades were made back then for the same reason they are still made.

Traditional Arab swords and blades intended for warefare are normally 2+ feet long. Not too sure that a 3" dagger is too effective.

I never said anything about warfare. I said killing other humans.

Same as this blade has no utility purpose due to its curved shape. Other than killing a human. You can find knife combat videos online that will show the optimal stab points to quickly kill a person using this type of knife. I'm guessing people back in the days had this information as well for the similar blades in the article.

https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details/C12G/Civilian-reg-C...

I would speculate that simply carrying such a blade openly would indicate to someone that you are familiar with life or death combat and willing to go there if necessary. Open carry has always had the secondary purpose of showing that you are not an easy target.

Reminds me of my Kurdish Grandma who owned a dagger. Most harmless, sweet woman alive and too afraid to touch it to. But she had one.

It’s odd the blades themselves are not depicted and the focus is on the scabbards. The polar opposite of Japanese sword-making.

They do say that old blades are the most coveted, as are old hilts made of rhino horn

I imagine the focus on the scabbard is partly because it was largely decorative and served a very different function - such as being collateral.

So all parts of the blade were important, but the part "used" the most has highest investment. If you don't draw the knife, then it gets most use by having obvious skill in its crafting.

The author should make a coffee table book,, if there is collectors' interest in them and not that much easily-findable information (at least for westerners).

The Metropolitan museum used to sell just a thing about Islamic Arms and Armor in its collection. Might still be for sale.

Cue all these weird dagger names showing up in Diablo 5 :-)

Nowhere did the article fulfill the opening promise of explaining what makes them so great or interesting. It's just a list of names of the variations and where they come from.

I was hoping to find out why they have that shape and the "many nuances" of the design.

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