FRINGIA

[Jim McDougall]

On sword blades typically of Austro-Hungarian origin it seems, this word/name? appears, sometimes with the familiar 'sickle' marks. It would seem the period of occurrence extends from mid 16th century to mid 18th century, and it would be interesting to know if anyone has ideas on what this word might mean.

Of course I know this has been discussed before, but this renewed effort is simply to provide material for the readers, and as an exercise for those who participate regularly......our stalwart legion!!!

[celtan]

Frigia? An area of today's Turkey. I believe the Persians used to have blade factories there.

Best

M

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

On sword blades typically of Austro-Hungarian origin it seems, this word/name? appears, sometimes with the familiar 'sickle' marks. It would seem the period of occurrence extends from mid 16th century to mid 18th century, and it would be interesting to know if anyone has ideas on what this word might mean.

Of course I know this has been discussed before, but this renewed effort is simply to provide material for the readers, and as an exercise for those who participate regularly......our stalwart legion!!!

[Jens Nordlunde]

Here is one, but unfortunately the blade is not shown. It is engraved on both sides of the blade with the word Fringia, the sun, the moon and stars. Last half of 18th century.

http://www.dorotheum.com/auktion-det...nschneide.html

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you so much Manolo and Jens!!! Exactly what I was referring to...you guys always step in to help out, and I am very grateful. One never knows where key bits of information might be found, and sharing anything might be the key.

I first encountered the word FRINGIA on sword blades noted in Eduard Wagner's "Cut and Thrust Weapons" (London, 1967) in material on pages 348-349. It appears as early as the blade of the sabre of the famed Polish king Stephan Bathory (1532-86) and seems to have continued to be seen on Eastern European sabre blades through the 18th century.

Many of these blades seem to have also carried the magic/talismanic motif which became popular on blades in these regions as well, including sun, moon, stars in varying number, style and arrangement. These features are represented in this nicely done sabre you posted Jens, and reflect the consistant use of these motifs.

Manolo, I had never heard of this word occurring on Islamic sword blades, nor the presence of Persian blade factories in Turkey, and assume this would be noted in "Arms and Armour from Iran", by Manoucher Mostagh ? I do not have this reference but it consistantly gets good reviews, as it is one of the few reference works in English on these weapons. It seems to make sense, as the Persians did send bladesmiths into other regions, India and Central Asia, and particularly I would imagine into Ottoman regions.

The FRINGIA marking seems to occur along with 'sickle' marks as well, with these devices well known on trade blades which became commonly associated with the Styrian swordsmiths. Sir James Mann, in his 1962 work on the Wallace Collections notes that not only FRINGIA, FERARA and GENOA appear framed by these markings, but some of the accompanying motif as well. Since these representations seem to be applied on trade blades to extol the virtues of the blades quality, perhaps the word FRINGIA occurs in that sense as well, and is of course equally elusive.

We still do not know conclusively the details of the mysterious ANDREA FERARA, but know that the 'name' appears on Solingen blades, often with the sickle marks. GENOA of course derives from the port of departure in earlier times for quality Italian blades from North Italy.

That FRINGIA appears in this sense on Ottoman blades seems surprising, but understandable in that by early 19th century this faltering empire was leaning toward the west in Turkey's adoption of its military fashion and weaponry in degree. Persia had become more commercial in production of trade blades (as discussed by Oliver Pinchot in his outstanding article on Assad Adullah) and certainly Turkey had similar designs in its trade oriented weapons.

I think it was Ariel who once suggested the word might be associated to the term 'ferangi', often used as we know to describe certain weapons in India with trade blades (ferangi, phirangi= foreign), which I thought brilliantly astute. The earlier use of the word on the Bathory sword would unfortunately appear to defeat this possibility, and I'd like to know more on that.

On a more contrived note, Wagner (op. cit. p.348-9) suggests that this term is actually an acronym "
FR= Fredericus III, Holy Roman Emperor 1415-93
Rex= Hungariae
IN
Germania Imperator Augustus

FRINGIA

Plausible? Yes.......but, conclusive, far from it.

The many variations of spelling ; FRINDIA, FRINCIA , FRANGIA may be the typical instances of misspelling characteristic on trade blades carrying spurious markings and names, but in earlier examples in context might weaken the acronym theory.

Well gentlemen, these are what little I have known on this curious word that stands on so many blades to taunt us, and my thoughts in line with the posts Manolo and Jens have added along with the known material I have seen.

I encourage all out there reading to think on this, and try to recall perhaps a place name, linguists, a word or term, perhaps a historic figure.....any of these that might offer clues.
All thoughts and ideas will be gratefully received, please join in on our little mystery!!!!

Thank you again guys!

All very best regards,
Jim

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hi Jim,
I have had a look in Manoucherer's book - in the index, and I could not find the word Fringia. So maybe is it mentioned, and maybe it is not. I am sorry, but my knowledge on the subject is too little to add further.
Jens

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Jens,
Thank you so much.....I keep getting the reference to fringia in accounts and reviews concerning the book on google search, so it must be in there somewhere, and as in many reference books, not properly indexed.

In continuing the google search, I think I have discovered the possible answers here. I thought of myself as a reader, and wondering about this apparant conundrum, without books or library at hand, the only place I had to turn was the computer and google search.

At first the word 'fringe' kept coming up, which means literally a border, and began to wonder if perhaps fringia might be a Latinized reference to border regions, as in Hungary, which was once (1526-1699) a border region of the Ottoman Empire.

Further searches continued to reveal auctions, such as "Arms and Armor of Archduke Eugen" , a 1927 catalog published in 2008 by Ron Ruble, which showed three Hungarian sabres, all with etched sun. moons and trophies along with FRINGIA.

Others were 19th century Austro-Hungarian mameluke sabre with the same celestial figures as FRINGIA. Another however was a Prussian M1811 Bluchersabel which carried the FRINGIA on the blade.

In a reference by the Hungarian Way History Museum, a very attractive sabre is shown referring to it as a 'Fringia', a typical kind of Hungarian sabre which was developed in early 18th c (?) The origin of the name fringia is still a controversial question, however it is believed to be Turkish.

Now here was support for the potential of Turkish connection to the term, as noted by Manolo and which I have seen previously in various references, but questioned because of the Latin sounding nature of the word.

In further search I then found a title (still under fringia) , "Liberty and the Search for Identity" by Ivan Zoltan Denes (2006, p.221) with reference to the Hungarian gentry c.1860, noting "...the gentry intended to realize this new program with a number of 'refuedalizing' actions: they started to use their FRINGIA, coats of arms and titles of nobility, again, together with all the relics of the old fuedal life".

Here was the term, and referring to its association with earlier fuedalism and tradition, but still unclear on the meaning.

Obviously, the sabres noted by the Hungarian museum developed much earlier than the 18th century, and Hungarian as well as East European, weaponry and military approaches to warfare developed from Turkish models, among clearly many cultural influences.

I then found "Cross and Crescent: Turkish Age in Hungary 1526-1699" an entry in the Encyclopedia Humana Hungarica 05.
This was entirely amazing as it described virtually all facets of the influences in Hungary by its Ottoman suzereigns, and included treatment on the loan words as well.
Regarding weaponry, the term dzsida = a type of spear; handszar =a short sword and damocki = damascus........
But, best of all....
FRINGIA = MADE OF FINE STEEL !!!!

So it would appear that this term, much as with the well established 'Eisenhauer' (= iron cutter, German) was not a maker, but a quality term....and seems to have arisen as early as Stephen Bathory, who was mentioned in the reference to the revival of Hungarian nationalistic pride in the Denes book (op.cit.).

As I began this thread yesterday, and wrote today, I had no knowledge of these references, and found them in the last several hours. Incredibly this was done entirely, and quite literally, sitting in a Winnebago in the remote desert area outside Tucson with only my trusty computer and what a fun way to spend the morning!

Although these results seem promising, certainly they are not conclusive, and I hope the readers out there will join with Jens, Manolo and myself in using resources at hand and our 'thinking caps' in pursuing this.

Best regards as always,
Jim