25th February 2020, 06:36 PM | #1 |
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Translation assistance on Ottoman shamshir
Thank you in advance for taking a look and providing any translation assistance.
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25th February 2020, 06:37 PM | #2 |
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And here are some images of the lengthy inscription on the upper half of the blade near the spine.
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25th February 2020, 09:51 PM | #3 |
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Lovely blade!
To me, it looks like Persian, late 18th century wootz. Very curious about the translation! |
25th February 2020, 10:26 PM | #4 |
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Very interesting inscriptions, including verses from a poem of the 'Abbasid poet al-Mutanabbi about a sword. Will give you readings when I have a moment
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26th February 2020, 04:16 PM | #5 | |
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Quote:
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27th February 2020, 04:25 PM | #6 |
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I fear I am going to look monumentally stupid here, but is the inscription upside down?
Regards Richard |
29th February 2020, 10:48 PM | #7 |
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Yes some of them are posted upside down :-)
In the quatrefoil cartouche is the ubiquitous: لا فتی الا علي لا سيف الا ذو الفقار “There is no hero but ‘Ali, no sword but Dhu’l-Fiqar” In the two oblong cartouches below this are, with a mistake: يا قاضي الحاجات / يا خفيالالطاف “O Requiter of Needs! O Provider of hidden graces!” In the oblong cartouches on the other side of the blade: يا مالك الممالك / نجنا من المهالك “O Possessor of the Realms! Save us from perils!” In the long inscription are verses from a poem by Abu Tammam (d. 845), not al-Mutanabbi as I stated before. There are some small mistakes in the text, but I have not included them below السَّـيْـفُ أَصْــدَقُ أَنْـبَــاءً مِـــنَ الـكُـتُـبِ فِـي حَــدهِ الـحَـدُّ بَـيْـنَ الـجِـد واللَّـعِـبِ بيضُ الصَّفَائِحِ لاَ سُـودُ الصَّحَائِـفِ فِـي مُـتُـونِـهـنَّ جــــلاءُ الــشَّـــك والــريَـــبِ “The sword is more truthful than books, In the hardness of its blade you find what separates the serious from a game, The shine of (the blades of) swords, not the black ink of a book’s pages, That is what eliminates doubt and uncertainty.” |
1st March 2020, 03:50 PM | #8 |
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Kwiatek,
Thank you very much for the detailed translation. It provides valuable insight into the sword along with a new avenue of study. These verses were hidden away until now and I am most appreciative to have the opportunity to learn more about them. |
1st March 2020, 10:07 PM | #9 |
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A pleasure. It’s a very interesting and unusual inscription. It’s not impossible an educated Turk would have understood this sophisticated kind of Arabic, but I would have thought it pointed to an origin in the Arabic-speaking parts of the Ottoman Empire
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2nd March 2020, 09:13 AM | #10 | |
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2nd March 2020, 11:13 PM | #11 |
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I am pretty sure the blade is Persian.
Now, when and where the inscription was made is another issue... Last edited by mariusgmioc; 3rd March 2020 at 07:14 PM. |
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