A light wooden spear used by African peoples, especially in southern Africa, as a weapon or tool.
From Bantu languages (likely Zulu or related languages) 'assegai' or 'isikhali,' referring to a spear. The word entered English through 18th-19th century contact with southern African peoples and colonial accounts, with spelling variations reflecting uncertain transliteration from oral languages.
The assagai became iconic in colonial narratives about African warriors, but this romantic image obscured the reality that these spears required sophisticated metallurgy, wood-working, and tactics that African smiths and warriors had perfected for centuries before European arrival.
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