Tabar (axe)

The tabar (also called tabarzin, which means "saddle axe" [in persian]) is a type of battle axe. Tabarzin is a war ax that was tied to the side of the horse in ancient times and was used in the campaign.

Indian (Sind) tabar battle axe, late 18th century or earlier, crescent shape 5-inch-long head with a square hammer opposite of the blade, 22-inch-long steel haft, the end of the haft unscrews to reveal a 5-inch slim blade. Heavily patinated head and handle with traces of engraving.

Ax was one of the tools of war in the Achaemenid period and in the Sassanid era, it was considered as a cavalry weapon. [2]

The term tabar is used for axes originating from the Persia , Ottoman Empire , India and surrounding countries and cultures.

Tabar etymological root isnt As a loanword taken through Iranian because "tab" word older 1500 years than persian language. sumerian word "Tab", to burn, fire; to dye (red); to brand, mark" . Assurians loan word, Old Babylonian, Neo-Assyrian "to flatten. Scythians should learned Sumer>Assyr's word "tab: " from Persians. the word tabar is also used in most Slavic languages as the word for axe[1] (e.g. Russian: топор).

Persia

The tabarzin (saddle axe) (Persian: تبرزین; sometimes translated "saddle-hatchet") is the traditional battle axe of Persia (Iran). It bears one or two crescent-shaped blades. The long form of the tabar was about seven feet long, while a shorter version was about three feet long. What makes the Persian axe unique is the very thin handle, which is very light and always metallic.[2] The tabarzin was sometimes carried as a symbolic weapon by wandering dervishes (Muslim ascetic worshippers). The word tabar for axe was directly borrowed into Armenian as tapar (Armenian: տապար) from Middle Persian tabar,[3][4] as well as into Proto-Slavonic as "topor" (*toporъ), the latter word known to be taken through Scythian,[5][1] and is still the common Slavic word for axe.[1]

India

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the tabar battle axe was a standard weapon of the mounted warriors of Afghanistan, Punjab, Sikh Khalsa army and what is now modern day India and Pakistan. Made entirely of metal or with a wood haft, it had a strongly curved blade and a hammer-headed poll and was often decorated with scroll work. Sometimes a small knife was inserted in the tabar's hollow haft.

Arabia

According to Adam Metz's "Islamic Civilization in the Fourth Century of the Hegira,” the tabar was frequently not only a weapon used by police chiefs (Sahib al-Shurta), but also a mark of office for them.

  • Indian (Southern) tabar (axe), 18th century, the wooden haft has a steel tang running 3/4 of the way down, pinned by four rivets. The axe head is brass with a forged steel blade, L. 58 cm.
  • Indian tabar-zaghnal, a combination tabar axe and zaghnal war hammer - pick, all-steel construction, 18th to 19th century
  • Indian (Deccan) tabar-shishpar, an extremely rare combination tabar axe and shishpar eight-flanged mace, steel with hollow shaft, 21.75 inches, 17th to 18th century
  • 18th century Indo-Persian ceremonial tabar, crafted of steel with gold koftgari inlay, Kufic calligraphy and pierced decorations
  • Darwish holding an ax

See also

References
  1. Boris Alexandrovič Rybakov (1989). Kievan Russia: History of Kievan Russia's First Feudal. Progress. p. 30. ISBN 978-5-01-001154-3.
  2. Complete Persian culture (Dary dialect) by Gholam-reza Ensaf-pur
  3. Bailey, H. W. (December 15, 1986). "Armenia and Iran iv. Iranian influences". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. II, Fasc. 4-5. www.iranicaonline.org. pp. 445–465.
  4. Anatoly Liberman (16 March 2009). Word Origins...And How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-19-538707-0.
  5. Sussex & Cubberley (2011, pp. 111–112)

Sources
  • Sussex, Roland; Cubberley, Paul (2011), The Slavic Languages, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-29448-5
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