Bulgarian (?) yataghan with inscription

TVV · 8th March 2005, 05:26 PM

Eftihis, I have attached two pictures on which the letters are highlighted to help one see them better. I hate to ask this, but are you 100% sure it is not Greek?
Here is an interesting piece of information: Bulgarian haiduts (Christian outlaws) during Ottoman times, and especially between 1820-1878 spent the winter months outside of Bulgaria, in the free Christian countries, in order to spend their loot, which they could not do in the Ottoman Empire due to obvious reasons. Some went to Wallachia and Moldova, others to Serbia, and some went south to Greece. There they spent most for alcohol and women, but also some for repairing their weapons, very much like the famous Carribean pirates in Tortuga. Therefore, Greek inscriptions on yataghans, kilidjes and other edged weapons are not that rare. One also needs to keep in mind that in the first half of the 19th century the Bulgarian Renaissance was in its early stage, and Bulgarian writing in Cyrillic was not as popular and developped as writing in Greek, and most of the literate Bulgarians preferred to write in Greek.
On your piece, a combination of the two: Cyrillic and Greek is also quite possible, to make matters even more complicated. A further note is that Christians in Ottoman lands were not allowed to carry weapons with very few exceptions, and normally a yataghan originating in the Ottoman Empire would not bear an inscription in Bulgarian or Greek. Therefore I think that while it could well be a Bulgarian inscription made for a Bulgarian haidut, this yataghan originated in Greece. There is no date unfortunatelly, but I would date in the middle of the 19th century, or maybe early 19th century.
I will keep on trying to solve the inscription with the help of my Bulgarian collector friends, so this thread is far from over (I hope).
Best Regards,
Teodor

8th March 2005, 05:26 PM	#5
TVV Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Bay Area Posts: 1,663	Eftihis, I have attached two pictures on which the letters are highlighted to help one see them better. I hate to ask this, but are you 100% sure it is not Greek? Here is an interesting piece of information: Bulgarian haiduts (Christian outlaws) during Ottoman times, and especially between 1820-1878 spent the winter months outside of Bulgaria, in the free Christian countries, in order to spend their loot, which they could not do in the Ottoman Empire due to obvious reasons. Some went to Wallachia and Moldova, others to Serbia, and some went south to Greece. There they spent most for alcohol and women, but also some for repairing their weapons, very much like the famous Carribean pirates in Tortuga. Therefore, Greek inscriptions on yataghans, kilidjes and other edged weapons are not that rare. One also needs to keep in mind that in the first half of the 19th century the Bulgarian Renaissance was in its early stage, and Bulgarian writing in Cyrillic was not as popular and developped as writing in Greek, and most of the literate Bulgarians preferred to write in Greek. On your piece, a combination of the two: Cyrillic and Greek is also quite possible, to make matters even more complicated. A further note is that Christians in Ottoman lands were not allowed to carry weapons with very few exceptions, and normally a yataghan originating in the Ottoman Empire would not bear an inscription in Bulgarian or Greek. Therefore I think that while it could well be a Bulgarian inscription made for a Bulgarian haidut, this yataghan originated in Greece. There is no date unfortunatelly, but I would date in the middle of the 19th century, or maybe early 19th century. I will keep on trying to solve the inscription with the help of my Bulgarian collector friends, so this thread is far from over (I hope). Best Regards, Teodor Attached Images