Onzil

An onzil (or osele or musele) is a throwing knife of ethnic groups from eastern Gabon (Kota, Fang, Mbété).

Onzil from eastern Gabon

Uses

Looking like an axe, the onzil has a calao-shaped blade.[1] Its handle, often made of wood, is covered with copper wire, iron or brass. Sometimes handles are made of ivory.[2] The onzil served as sacrificial weapons or for the war.[3] The Kotas called them osele or musele, and the Fangs, with sometimes a longer handle, called them onzil. The name remained.

  • Classical onzil
  • Rare fish shaped onzil

Bibliography
  • Jan Elsen, De fer et de fierté, Armes blanches d’Afrique noire du Musée Barbier-Mueller, 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2003, ISBN 88-7439-085-8
  • Louis Perrois, L'esprit de la forêt : terres du Gabon, 1997, p.141
  • Manfred A.Zirngibl-Werner Fischer, Afrikanische Waffen
gollark: Due to something, palaiologos won the vote by rather a lot, despite having only been a member for a few months.
gollark: Due to LyricLy being somewhat unserious as owner, we wanted to remove them and get someone else in place. This worked; LyricLy agreed to resign due to things (no blackmail*!) and we held an election.
gollark: I don't know, really. There are theories.
gollark: I forgot.
gollark: If you don't have access to our internal memos and such you can't have a full history of it, see. And you don't. Muahahaha.

References
  1. Fernand Grébert, Le Gabon de Fernand Grébert, 1913-1932 - Page 91
  2. Mémoire africaine
  3. Mary H Kingsley, West African Studies (1899), London, MacMillan, 1901


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.