Nimcha markings

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you Philip, as you note these letters are likely renditions of European words, phrases, invocations, and often names. These phenomenon in blade markings have fascinated me for as long as I can remember, and the following is much of the perspective I have developed, hopefully somewhat accurately.

The characters, which may not be accurately rendered in the conventions of European alphabets, were probably of course simply meant to suggest quality.

As you mention, Caino was well known for lines of seemingly nonsensical letters, sometimes in curious repetition.
It is believed that this was a European convention of acrostics representing certain phases or invocations which had particular esoteric meanings.
These evolved in degree from combinations of varied religious applications including kabbalistic and often entwined with magic, occult and other connected symbolism including Masonic.

The interpolation of numbers and letters sometimes is involved as well, as letters may have numerical value, and vice versa, depending on the case at hand.

With such esoterica, even literate workers in Europe had difficulty duplicating these intricate systems of arcane lettering accurately if not properly initiated, let alone workers in other cultures trying to approximate them.

Good point on the combining of Roman and Cyrillic letters, and often even certain 'magical' symbols can be entwined in these kinds of groupings. It is hard to imagine what actual values were perceived by native artisans applying these letters and marks, but suggestion of quality was likely the end result sought.