Ottoman Turkish Yatagan inscriptions help
 

here is a short dagger , repurposed from a perhaps broken yatagan. The scabbard is original and seems like it was made just for this piece after it was broken and turned into a dagger. Anyone can read any of the inscription?

no help? :(

Hello Sfenoid13

I am sorry that no one translated the inscriptions for you yet, but don't give up, they may still do. I can't read arabic and don't know Turkish myself (the inscriptions could be in Turkish, as most of them are) And most likely it is just the maker's and the owners name and/or verses from Quran. I think (I may be wrong) there is a date 1220 which corresponds to AD 1805. As for the dagger and the sheath/scabbard I think, I can give you some ideas to elaborate on. The sheath is from a Caucasian/Russian "kindjal" dagger. It's pretty beat up, but still can be identified as such. The dagger is a yataghan (as you correctly observed). It has been shortened and reshaped to fit the sheath. The person who did it, tried his best to keep the inscriptions intact and this makes me believe the the Yataghan was broken initially and not just butchered in order to fit the sheath. The owner most likely did not care about the traditional looks of a yataghan (probably not Turkish military personnel) and just used whatever he could get. Maybe a trader of some kind, who just made it look good enough to be able to sell it. The original yataghan seemed to be a very good one and based on all the gold and silver on it, was initially made for somebody rich and influential. The hilt/handle is unusual. Probably a restoration as well, at least the horn part for sure. I could tell you more if there are more photos of the handle.
Good find altogether.

I agree.

It would also be impossible to braze or weld the yataghan back together without losing all of the koftgari on it.

thank you for your comments. I was able to get some of it translated elsewhere :). mostly prayers and names. It is fascinating to me to see such elaborate little writings on a sword. especially some of the koftgari is silver while the rest is in gold. very interesting. also the scabbard is very nicely done. Someone really loves this knive :) like I do now..

The scabbard doesn't look Russian/ Caucasian: Turkish, IMHO.