Sgian-dubh
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The Template:Lang (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; Template:IPA) – also anglicized as skene-dhu<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> – is a small, single-edged knife (Template:Langx) worn as part of traditional Scottish Highland dress. It is now worn tucked into the top of the kilt hose with only the upper portion of the hilt visible. The Template:Lang is normally worn on the same side as the dominant hand.
Etymology and spelling
The name comes from the Scottish Gaelic Template:Lang, from sgian ('knife') and dubh ('black', also with the secondary meaning of 'hidden'.<ref>Template:Cite web; Compare also other Gaelic word-formations such as Template:Lang 'hidden agenda', Template:Lang 'hidden (i.e. underwater) skerry', Template:Lang 'riddle' (Template:Lit), Template:Lang 'enigma' (Template:Lit).</ref>). Although sgian is feminine, so that a modern Gael might refer to a black knife as sgian dhubh, the term for the ceremonial knife is a set-phrase containing a historical form with blocked lenition.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Other spellings are found in English, including skean-dhu<ref> Template:Cite web</ref> and skene-dhu.<ref>"skene1" Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd edition, 1989. [1] (subscription required).</ref> The Gaelic plural, Template:Lang, is only rarely encountered in English.
Origins
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The Template:Lang may have evolved from the Template:Lang, a dagger that could be concealed under the armpit. Used by the Scots of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, this knife was slightly larger than the average modern Template:Lang and was carried in the upper sleeve or lining of the body of the jacket.<ref name=mmoa>Template:Cite book</ref>
Draconian Scots laws introduced by the Scots Privy Council under the Stewart King in the late 1500's; intended to reduce interclan honour feuds and duelling included the outlawing of hidden weapons. {Basilikon Doron 1599}. This writ by the Scots King was impossible to enforce North of the Highland Line and so the carrying of weapons continued in the Highlands until the suppression period post Culloden in 1746. Never the less, the transition from the carrying of the last resort weapon (Sgian) may have begun to transition from armpit pocket to top of hose on the leg at this time. However, codes of Highland courtesy and etiquette would demand that when entering the home of a friend, any concealed weapons would be revealed. It follows that the Template:Lang would be removed from its hiding place and displayed in the stocking top held securely by the garters.<ref name=rcr>Template:Cite book</ref>
The Template:Lang also resembles the small skinning knife that is part of the typical set of hunting knives. These sets contain a butchering knife with a Template:Convert blade, and a skinner with a blade of about Template:Convert. These knives usually had antler handles, as do many early sgian-dubhs. The larger knife is likely the ancestor of the modern dirk.<ref name=eaa>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Template:Lang can be seen in portraits of kilted men of the mid-19th century. A portrait by Sir Henry Raeburn of Colonel Alasdair Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry hangs in the National Gallery of Scotland; it shows hanging from his belt on his right hand side a Highland Scottish dirk, and visible at the top of his right stocking what appears to be a nested set of two sgian-dubhs. A similar sgian-dubh is in the collection of The National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Construction
Template:Unreferenced section The early blades varied in construction, some having a "clipped" (famously found on the Bowie knife) or "drop" point. The "spear-point" tip has now become universal. The earliest known blades, some housed in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, are made from German or Scandinavian steel, which was highly prized by the Highlanders. Scalloped filework on the back of the blade is common on all Scottish knives. A short blade of Template:Convert is typical.Template:Citation needed
Traditionally the scabbard is made of leather reinforced with wood and fitted with mounts of silver or some other metal which may be cast or engraved with designs ranging from Scottish thistles, Celtic knotwork, or heraldic elements such as a crest. While this makes for more popular and expensive knives, the sheath is hidden from view in the stocking while the Template:Lang is worn. The sheaths of many modern sgian-dubhs are made of plastic mounted with less expensive metal fittings.
Since the modern Template:Lang is worn mainly as a ceremonial item of dress and is usually not employed for cutting food or self-defence, blades are often of a simple construction. These are typically made from stainless steel. The hilts used on many modern sgian-dubhs are made of plastic that has been molded to resemble carved wood and fitted with cast metal mounts and synthetic decorative stones. Some are not even knives at all, but a plastic handle and sheath cast as one piece. Other examples are luxurious and expensive art pieces, with hand-carved ebony or bog wood hilts, sterling silver fittings and may have pommels set with genuine cairngorm stones and blades of Damascus steel or etched with Celtic designs or heraldic motifs.
Legality
When worn as part of the national dress of Scotland, the Template:Lang is legal in Scotland, England, and Wales: in Scotland under the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 s. 49(5)(c);<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in England and Wales under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (s. 139)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Offensive Weapons Act 1996 (s. 4).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, the wearing of the Template:Lang is sometimes banned in Britain in areas with zero tolerance weapons policies or heightened security concerns. For example, they were banned from a school dance in Scotland,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and initially banned for the June 2014 celebration of the Battle of Bannockburn.<ref>Template:Cite web.</ref>
People travelling by air with a Template:Lang are now globally prohibited from having it in the cabin, but it is allowed in checked baggage.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Piper Jeff McCarthy was fined CA$221 on 2 November 2016 for wearing a sgian-dubh in his kilt hose while performing in Montreal, Canada at the McGill University convocation ceremony.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> McCarthy immediately contested the fine, which was ultimately cancelled by The City of Montreal in May 2018; his knife was returned.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
See also
References
- [2]Labhran photographic archive of vintage and antique Scottish sgian dubh