Writing on an Ethiopian blade

roanoa · 18th February 2019, 09:19 PM

Well, I was waiting to see the sword (German?), but since Martin jumped the gun.... Here it is. Martin is correct. It is the name of one of the major importer of weaponry in Ethiopia. Muhammed Ali was based in Harar. He imported several patterns of the Wilkinson blades as well, with his name written in English on the spine of the blade. His name was on occasion spelled wrongly as Muhammedalli (one word), as in this case. There is no "end of word dots" between Muhammed and Ali and so it would read as one word. The second word is the phonetic rendition in Amharic of the word COMPANY.

Jim McDougall · 19th February 2019, 12:30 AM

Well done Martin!!!
It is extremely difficult to interpret phrases and inscriptions on sword blades without context. I dont believe many who post for translations realize that these inscriptions often are not necessarly verbatim as with translating out of a letter or book. They are often copied by workers who are not speakers of the language being used, or of course perhaps illiterate.

Having the entire sword gives us a better idea of what nationality and periods may be involved so we can better interpret the words in question.

Thank you Martin and Ron for the identification and detail !!!

kahnjar1 · 19th February 2019, 03:39 AM

....but still no pic of the whole item

Battara · 19th February 2019, 05:09 AM

Terry you have pm

Terry K · 20th February 2019, 02:05 PM

Gentlemen,
Please forgive me. I cannot get any larger pictures to load. I will try again in next day or so as I don't have the sword here and dumped other ones I took. I also was not receiving notifications from the form in my email but think I fixed that problem.
Terry

Terry K · 28th February 2019, 02:55 PM

Thanks all that answered! I sent via email the pictures of the sword, overall and close up, to a member who said he would post them .
Thanks for your patience,
Terry

Battara · 3rd March 2019, 07:06 AM

Here are the resized pictures:

18th February 2019, 09:19 PM	#1
roanoa Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 241	Well, I was waiting to see the sword (German?), but since Martin jumped the gun.... Here it is. Martin is correct. It is the name of one of the major importer of weaponry in Ethiopia. Muhammed Ali was based in Harar. He imported several patterns of the Wilkinson blades as well, with his name written in English on the spine of the blade. His name was on occasion spelled wrongly as Muhammedalli (one word), as in this case. There is no "end of word dots" between Muhammed and Ali and so it would read as one word. The second word is the phonetic rendition in Amharic of the word COMPANY. Attached Images

3rd March 2019, 07:06 AM	#7
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,363	Here are the resized pictures: Attached Images

19th February 2019, 12:30 AM	#2
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,744	Well done Martin!!! It is extremely difficult to interpret phrases and inscriptions on sword blades without context. I dont believe many who post for translations realize that these inscriptions often are not necessarly verbatim as with translating out of a letter or book. They are often copied by workers who are not speakers of the language being used, or of course perhaps illiterate. Having the entire sword gives us a better idea of what nationality and periods may be involved so we can better interpret the words in question. Thank you Martin and Ron for the identification and detail !!!

19th February 2019, 03:39 AM	#3
kahnjar1 Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND Posts: 2,818	....but still no pic of the whole item

19th February 2019, 05:09 AM	#4
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,363	Terry you have pm

20th February 2019, 02:05 PM	#5
Terry K Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 86	Gentlemen, Please forgive me. I cannot get any larger pictures to load. I will try again in next day or so as I don't have the sword here and dumped other ones I took. I also was not receiving notifications from the form in my email but think I fixed that problem. Terry

28th February 2019, 02:55 PM	#6
Terry K Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 86	Thanks all that answered! I sent via email the pictures of the sword, overall and close up, to a member who said he would post them . Thanks for your patience, Terry