Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Arabic insription on yataghan

ariel · 23rd July 2006, 01:47 AM

I think we are in the " eats shoots and leaves" territory

" Lower quality Greek work" can be interpreted as " lower quality, ie Greek, work " or "lower quality work that happens to come from Greece" .
I am sure Valjhun meant the latter (and that is how I red it): it has Greek motives but this particular specimen is not a museum masterpiece. No condescension toward Greek workmanship in general was intended.
Would be a pity if a grammatical ambiguity caused bad feelings between the two of you.
As to the inscription... I had a Yataghan with a bizarre inscription that nobody could read. Then somebody just read it as a crude script of Osmanli.
Don't despair, somebody will help. I do not believe for a second this is a mumbo-jumbo.

23rd July 2006, 01:47 AM	#2
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	I think we are in the " eats shoots and leaves" territory " Lower quality Greek work" can be interpreted as " lower quality, ie Greek, work " or "lower quality work that happens to come from Greece" . I am sure Valjhun meant the latter (and that is how I red it): it has Greek motives but this particular specimen is not a museum masterpiece. No condescension toward Greek workmanship in general was intended. Would be a pity if a grammatical ambiguity caused bad feelings between the two of you. As to the inscription... I had a Yataghan with a bizarre inscription that nobody could read. Then somebody just read it as a crude script of Osmanli. Don't despair, somebody will help. I do not believe for a second this is a mumbo-jumbo.