A ‚Christian’ Yataghan – Translation help needed :-)

[Marc]

Originally Posted by ward

There are some 16th century swords in Topkapi Palace that have a small fish on the grip, these are gold silver or other metal. I heard that fish were a symbol of potency to the early Turks, so it's probably pre-Islamic but stayed in use.

Indeed, there's an article in "GLADIUS" by David Alexander dealing with this symbolism. It can be found HERE