Translating text and date on a Ottoman dagger

[kwiatek]

These verses are a variant of ones found on an earlier, 16th-century piece in the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest. The person who read them for you has tried to make sense of them as Persian, whereas in fact they are in Turkish and read as follows:


Hatt değildür hanceri üzre görünen aşikâr

Katline ‘uşşakının içün hüccet çıkarmış ol nigâr

In English:

“What is visible on his dagger is not writing/the down on a cheek,

It is rather proof that the beautiful-faced one has produced for the murder of his beloveds.”

It’s hard to translate because it makes use of wordplay and belongs to the world of classical Turkish poetry that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if you’re not familiar with the imagery. The dagger is compared to the beautiful face of the beautiful but cruel and indifferent beloved. In classical Persian and Turkish poetry the beloved’s face typically has a fine down on it, which is a sign that the beloved is in the bloom of youth and beauty. There is a wordplay in that the word for “down” is a also the word for “writing” (hatt). The poet says that in fact that what you see on the dagger/face is not down/writing, it is proof of the beloved’s murder of all of his lovers.

For the dagger in Budapest see the following link

https://collections.imm.hu/gyujtemen...emenyebol/1120

[kronckew]

Images frequently have hidden 'metadata' information added to the initial encoding to specify rotation, and info on exposure, colour types, and even photographer. Your graphics editor may have EXIF settings you can turn on or off.

EXIF Info for YOUR photo:

[Camera]
Camera Manufacturer : samsung
Camera Model : SM-A520F
Orientation : top-left (1)
X Resolution : 72
Y Resolution : 72
Resolution unit : Inch
Software : Microsoft Windows Photo Viewer 6.1.7600.16385
Date modified : 2020:05:29 18:44:09
YCbCr Positioning : centered (1)

[Image]
Exposure time [s] : 1/17
F-Number : 1.9
Exposure program : Normal (2)
ISO speed ratings : 320
EXIF version : 02.20
Date taken : 2018:03:13 20:19:51
Date digitized : 2018:03:13 20:19:51
Components configuration : YCbCr
Shutter speed [s] : 1/17
Aperture : F1.9
Brightness : -1.14
Exposure bias value : 0
Max aperture : F1.9
Metering mode : Center weight (2)
Flash : No flash
Focal length [mm] : 3.6
User comment :
SubSecTime : 0165
SubSecTimeOriginal : 0165
SubSecTimeDigitized : 0165
FlashPix Version : 01.00
Colour space : sRGB
EXIF image width : 1150
EXIF image length : 683
Interoperability offset : 5002
Exposure mode : Auto (0)
White balance : Auto (0)
Focal length (35mm) : 27
Scene capture type : Standard (0)
Image unique ID : Close View (0)

[IOP]
IOP index : R98
IOP version : 0100

[Makernotes]

[Thumbnail]
Image width : 512
Image length : 384
Compression : 6
Orientation : bottom-right (3)
X Resolution : 72
Y Resolution : 72
Resolution unit : Inch
Thumbnail offset : 5192
Thumbnail length : 6666




'RIOT' optimized and rotated: EXIF data removed:

[Drabant1701]

Originally Posted by kwiatek

These verses are a variant of ones found on an earlier, 16th-century piece in the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest. The person who read them for you has tried to make sense of them as Persian, whereas in fact they are in Turkish and read as follows:


Hatt değildür hanceri üzre görünen aşikâr

Katline ‘uşşakının içün hüccet çıkarmış ol nigâr

In English:

“What is visible on his dagger is not writing/the down on a cheek,

It is rather proof that the beautiful-faced one has produced for the murder of his beloveds.”

It’s hard to translate because it makes use of wordplay and belongs to the world of classical Turkish poetry that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if you’re not familiar with the imagery. The dagger is compared to the beautiful face of the beautiful but cruel and indifferent beloved. In classical Persian and Turkish poetry the beloved’s face typically has a fine down on it, which is a sign that the beloved is in the bloom of youth and beauty. There is a wordplay in that the word for “down” is a also the word for “writing” (hatt). The poet says that in fact that what you see on the dagger/face is not down/writing, it is proof of the beloved’s murder of all of his lovers.

For the dagger in Budapest see the following link

https://collections.imm.hu/gyujtemen...emenyebol/1120

Thank you Kwiatek for clearing that up! I knew that the translator had a hard time making sense of it, but he gets an A for effort

And thank you Kronckew for flipping my photo!

[motan]

Hi Peter,
Museum quality and nice prose too. Excellent. Nothing to add to the words of the educated gentlemen, except that to me, the date looks like 1215, which translates to 1800/1801 Gregorian.