Cretan (?) knife with inscription for translation
 

Gentlemen,

Please take a look at this knife. Is it from Crete or from somewhere else? Can our Greek speaking members please translate the poem on one side of the blade?

Thank you,
Teodor

Hello,
Not Cretan, one side is inscribed Kydoniai 30 October 1900. Kydoniai is the formal Greek name for the Turkish town of Ayvalık on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, with a predominantly ethnic Greek population pre-1922. On the other side the inscription reads:
I eat bread with tears, (I drink) poisoned water
I have been raised with sorrows and sufferings
Regards,
Andreas

An attempt:

"I eat bread with tears, poisoned water...
... I am with with bitterness and sufferings."

Kydonies (Today Chania) 1900
30 October

Sorry, the correct:

"I eat bread with tears, poisoned water...
... I am breeds with bitterness and sufferings."

Kydonies (Today Chania) 1900
30 October

Hi Teodor,
It is not from Crete, its from Aivali (Kydonies) in Asia Minor coast, in Turkey.
Please make a better photo of the last 2 words in the second row.

Ups :o !

I think Eftihis is right, sorry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayvalık

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kydonia

Anyway, nice knife.

Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for the quick responses. Here is hopefully a better photo of the poem.

Teodor

Thanks for the photo. Translation remains the same!

Thank you very much Eftihis. Why are these inscriptions on Greek knives so elegiac? Are they references to the Ottoman yoke or simply love related?

Teodor

Hi Teodor,
Have a look at this past thread: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...hlight=kydonia

they are still making these inscribed knives in chania, crete. an elderly knife maker, Apostolis Pachtikos, made these:

not mine.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h1...w/Theseus1.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h1...w/theseus3.jpg

mine.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...5850c6d2d3.jpg

i gather he is actually a turk who immigrated to crete way back when & has been making knives there for 60+ years. i hope he still is. last i heard there were only 7 other makers left.

edited: apparently the other 7 have died. :(

apostolis signs his knives as 'armenis' as when he arrived from turkey, they mistakingly referred to him as the armenian :)