Inscriptions in Navajas, for Chris and who else

[fernando]

I hope Freebooter doesn't mind ( much ) if i show here my pride and joy.
Santa Cruz de Mudela, XVIII century.
This one has 28 cms.(11") blade. A bit too large for what is considered an operational piece, but i would say it was its actual purpose. It was found in the ruimns of Castro Marim Castle, just across the river from Spanish Ayamonte. The decoration and the probable motto are practicaly gone.
Mind you, apart from this specimen, the couple others i have are close from junk .
I will have to buy some more decent ones.

[Chris Evans]

Hi Fernando,

Thank you for that very informative essay on navajas in Portugal. Did the Portuguese also have to suffer the same weapon bans as the Spaniards in the 18th century?

Cheers
Chris

[Gavin Nugent]

Nice to see another lovely item Fernando, I too would hold it dear if I had it in my collection. and the story behind it's find even more so. I beleive we are all the same here in respect to wanting to improve our knowledge and enhance our collections.
I have written here the script on the Alero Garcia blade but it all makes no sense to me.
"Cuando acaricia mi mano la cacha de esta navaja hast los valientes tiem lau al ver mis bravos hauzanas"

The cursive script is hard to read but that's what I got.

Many thanks too Fernando, for posting the navaja sayings, without it I might just have passed this wonderful sight by in further search of such notes I was looking for.
And Cylord21, thanks for bringing the King of Spanish folders to light in the closed forum you presented.
I have my eyes on a genumine Romani folder too guys, if I am successful in obtaining it I will be sure to include it here, though saying that, I have no kidney to sell as I traded one for the large blade I have and it looks like I may have to starve for a month to get it, but it will be worth it...any food donations can be sent to me via the vikingsword staff......

[Marc]

Originally Posted by freebooter

Nice to see another lovely item Fernando, I too would hold it dear if I had it in my collection. and the story behind it's find even more so. I beleive we are all the same here in respect to wanting to improve our knowledge and enhance our collections.
I have written here the script on the Alero Garcia blade but it all makes no sense to me.
"Cuando acaricia mi mano la cacha de esta navaja hast los valientes tiem lau al ver mis bravos hauzanas"

The cursive script is hard to read but that's what I got.

Many thanks too Fernando, for posting the navaja sayings, without it I might just have passed this wonderful sight by in further search of such notes I was looking for.
And Cylord21, thanks for bringing the King of Spanish folders to light in the closed forum you presented.
I have my eyes on a genumine Romani folder too guys, if I am successful in obtaining it I will be sure to include it here, though saying that, I have no kidney to sell as I traded one for the large blade I have and it looks like I may have to starve for a month to get it, but it will be worth it...any food donations can be sent to me via the vikingsword staff......

I'm sorry for not participating more actively in this thread, extremely busy, these days, but, nonetheless...

"Cuando acaricia mi mano la cacha de esta navaja hast los valientes tiem lau al ver mis bravos hauzanas"

After a bit of "clean up", this would probably read (or wanted to read, "creative" orthography in these texts having already been mentioned as something characteristic):

"Cuando acaricia mi mano la cacha de esta navaja hasta los valientes tiemblan al ver mis bravas hazañas"

Which would translate, more or less, as:

"When my hand caresses the side slab of this navaja even the brave tremble when seeing my valiant feats"

Here "side slab" is used, by extension, as synonymous of "handle, hilt". In cutlery, a "cacha" is one of the slabs of horn or wood (or other material: mother-of-pearl, plastic, micarta, you name it) applied to the side of the hilt of a knife. On a related note, you can also find it applied to the slabs used in the sides of a revolver or other hand-guns. Hence its use, by extension, to design the handle or hilt of a knife or a gun.

By the way, about the term "vibora"... in Spain it usually designs a definitely poisonous snake, a viper. "Serpiente" is used as the generic term for snakes, with "culebra" being also used sometimes as a generic, although this last term usually designs snakes of the non-poisonous variety. Here, "cobra" is used for the hooded, non-native and more exotic poisonous variety.
"Víbora" is also not rarely seen applied to women with a particularly sharp tongue and a inclination for cruelty, but let's better not go there...

I hope this helps a bit...

Best,
Marc

[fernando]

I Freebooter,

No need to thank
My willing to help and please others, is surely greater than my knowledge of things .

This is a raw translation of what i reach so far:

Originally Posted by freebooter

"Cuando acaricia mi mano la cacha de esta navaja hast los valientes tiem lau al ver mis bravos hauzanas"

When the grip plates of this navaja caress my hand, even the valiants have ? at watching my brave ?

I will try and dig into the two missing terms ...maybe they are either misspelled or very old ... maybe even allegoric.
...Maybe Chris can decipher them?!

All the best
Fernando

[fernando]

Oh, Marc has just came in with the Cavalry.
Thank you Marc, for giving a hand.
Fernando

[Chris Evans]

Hi freebooter&Fernando

Originally Posted by fernando

Oh, Marc has just came in with the Cavalry.
Thank you Marc, for giving a hand.
Fernando

I don't think that I can do any better than Marc, in fact, I think that he hit the nail on the head. Congratulations Marc and well done. How did you manage to link "hauzanas" with "hazañas"?

The only thing that surprises me is that given that navaja was probably made after WWI, that the fellow responsible for the inscription couldn't spell/write any better than that. Had it been a 19th century piece, it would have been on par for the course, but 1920s or even later? Never mind, Freebooter, you have a very interesting piece there. I have not seen any such "heroic"scripts on post 1900/WWI navajas. Most carry the ubiquitous "Recuerdo de..." because by that time largish navajas ceased to play a significant social role and were bought mostly by tourists - Urbanization and law enforcement took care of that. Also such a broad blade was not what was wanted in a knife that may have had to be opened in anger.

Cheers
Chris

[Gavin Nugent]

Well done and many thanks Fernando and Marc.
Upon reading your post Marc and seeing how the letters should be formed I can see where my interpritation of the cursive script took a wrong turn. If I can weave some camera magic I will endevour to get some images of the script on the larger blade for everyone to view, though it is lost in places.
I am also trying to find a PDF file I have here some where which is an article from the New York times in 1908 writing about the government "raiding" major culters in Spain and confiscating any blade longer than 6 inches due to the carnage across the country. If anyone does have a copy of this article feel free to post it before I do. I will also, when time permits, scan an image of Albecete knife cutlers I have in a reference book.
Chris, I will post a few images of the Alvero Garcia blade too, maybe the makers stamp and style of etching and fittings can reveal more about it's age. Maybe, just maybe it is pre 1908????
PS "Viper" sits better with me in the grand scheme of things.

Gav

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Chris Evans

I don't think that I can do any better than Marc, in fact, I think that he hit the nail on the head. Congratulations Marc and well done. How did you manage to link "hauzanas" with "hazañas"?

Thats the advantage of having the language actually corporised. You can infer, even despite mispellings, instead of only try to realize the construction of the term with the letters available. I would never make it. The Portuguese word for it is "façanhas", the spelling makes the difference.
Glad Marc saved the situation .
Fernando