Azagaia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of traditional spear used primarily in southern Africa for hunting and warfare, characterized by a long shaft and a pointed metal tip
2. A hunting and combat weapon traditionally crafted in African cultures, notable for its elongated wooden handle and sharp, often metal, pointed end
3. An elongated pole weapon historically employed in African tribes, designed with a narrow, sharp tip for piercing in battles and hunts

Etymology: The spear's name began as an Arabic word, "az-zaġāya," for a light throwing spear. Spanish and Portuguese speakers in the Iberian Peninsula took it up as "azagaya," and it passed into Portuguese as "azagaia." The Portuguese carried it along their sea routes, and it was applied to the spears used by peoples they met in southern Africa. English speakers more often know the spear by a later form, "assegai," which came into English from the Portuguese word and was used for the Nguni and Sotho weapons that European travellers described. The name thus traveled from the Arabic-speaking world through Iberia and Portuguese trade to the southern African interior, and European writers then used it for a weapon whose makers never spoke Arabic or Portuguese.

Synonyms: spear, javelin, lance, pike, harpoon