Translation assistance on Ottoman shamshir

[RSWORD]

Thank you in advance for taking a look and providing any translation assistance.

[RSWORD]

And here are some images of the lengthy inscription on the upper half of the blade near the spine.

[mariusgmioc]

Lovely blade!
To me, it looks like Persian, late 18th century wootz.
Very curious about the translation!

[kwiatek]

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

[RSWORD]

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

Thank you Kwiatek! I appreciate your translations on both this piece as well as the yataghan. Very informative and educational!

[Richard G]

I fear I am going to look monumentally stupid here, but is the inscription upside down?
Regards
Richard

[kwiatek]

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.”

[RSWORD]

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.

[kwiatek]

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

[ALEX]

... but I would have thought it pointed to an origin in the Arabic-speaking parts of the Ottoman Empire

Very interesting! Could it be made in Ottoman Syria? the brass crossguard and type of coftgari are indicative of it.

[mariusgmioc]

I am pretty sure the blade is Persian.
Now, when and where the inscription was made is another issue... :shrug: