Hi,

I just got this wierd idea in my head: why don't we all post obscure names for various weapons in the IBFD world (or earlier)'s timeperiod?

I just found several odd words I want to research-they're arabic, but might be borrowed from contemporary languages, or refer to foreign weapons. I need to figure out the exact meaning, as the dictionary I use isn't partticularly helpful (its from the 13th century). well, here they are (transliteration):

allat-: a spear with a long metal shaft (some say the whole is of iron)

7arbat-: a spear with a long metal tip, that at the same time is not a spear (I suspect its original arabic meaning = javelin)

mitall-: a speartip made of cowhorn.

does anyone recognize the descriptions? do they match any javelins in use from 200-700AD?