Interesting piece, congratulations!
I also agree that they must have some meaning, even if we probably never really will know what.
Here are two suggestions that maybe(!) could be the case:
- Magic; to counter an enemy who has powers not to be hurt by steel by adding another metal in the blade.
- Symbolic leverage; by including 4 higher powers in the blade they will assist the owner in the fight. I don't know which 4 powers but the
most common ones are: the 4 archangels, the 4 rulers of the corners of the earth, the 4 elements, the 4 friends of the Prophet etc.
Just ideas, but based on ethnographic information collected in the same cultural area.
Michael
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