ACEH COJANG FOR TRANSLATION ,MALAY/ARABIC INSCRIPTION / STRANGE DATE
 

Lucky, lucky me.
I was able to purchase a cojang/rudus with a very nice floral decorated hilt.

As a bonus it has an inscription. on the hilt.
The only part I can figure out, is the date, but this does note make sense to me. It looks like 2141 ?
Can the forumites help me to make sense of this ?

best regards,
Willem

Hi Willem
the Persians are not writing the date like the Arabs :shrug:
I said "Persian" because the script is absolutely Persian, no doubt
and the date is 1412 either 2000 ... :p
for the mention wrote in Arabic alphabet, it's too late,
tomorrow I shall see if it's readable,
but major risk that it's in Farsi language ... as well as the date ;)

à +

Dom

Jawi perhaps ? :shrug:

Its Jawi. From the unclear picture I can deduced that the inscription reads as follows " lapan haribulan Rabiul Akhir" or "eight (8th) of Rabiul Akhir (a name of month in Islamic calendar).

Thank you Jentayu,

These are pictures of the seller.
As I was not sure about the date I posted also a "mirrored" picture. :cool:

I hope to have the piece in hands later this week and will post better pictures then.

Thanks in advance btw for the quick response.

Best regards,
Willem

Great to see you grabbed it Willem!
A very nicely carved hilt, and sure the text as a bonus, as it wasn't mentioned when it was for sale!

Maurice

in less than 5 post ... no more mystery
... we are a blo*dy fu*cking translators gang ... here :p
- Turkish Ottoman
- Arabic
- Farsi
- Jawi
- Tagalog
may be I forgot some other languages, nothing have a "mercy" with us
we are terrific at "Ethnografic Arms & Armor" :D

à +

Dom

Hello Willem,

congrats, never seen a cojang with such a nice carved handle!

Regards,

Detlef

1412 in the persian calendar would be 2033 a.d. suspect that might be wrong ;)

1412 in the arabic hijri is 1991 a.d. a bit more reasonable.

the last char. looks more like a 6 to me tho.

1416 = 1995

the '4' appears to be backwards... not unusual with dyslexic not very well edumacated non-arabs using the script in their own language.

p.s. while arabic is written right to left, numbers are always left to right like ours. we of course adopted the numerals & place system from the arabs. (though not the calendar)

for future reference:

Good day
after have reviewed the subject with my translator, here below our suggestions

in Arabic the word
SANA either DATE

the end of a sentence, wrote apparently in Jawi, see the post of our friend "Jentayu"
for what we haven't a translation to offer, we read only because in Arabic;
RABÎ'A AL AWAL (ربيع الأول in Arabic) either 3RD MONTH OF ISLAMIC CALENDAR

now, the more delicate ... I must apologize, I've completely off the rails :o
... the digits mentioned on the hilt ... we guess that we have to have to read 1317 :rolleyes: (European digits)
but, PLEASE don't ask for me, which is the calendar involved ?? :confused:

too many calendars are in used in Malaysia or around, here a link very intructive
http://halah-mbuh.blogspot.fr/2011/0...-calendar.html

sorry again, to have took my dreams for a reality :o

à +

Dom

Thank you very much Dom.
You are a great help to me (and others) ;)

Indeed your sugestion that the date is in european digits is probably the best explanation.
1317 would than equal the year 1899 in western calender.
This also seems more logical with the style and age of the piece.

I hope that Mohd can join in and help with the inscription too.
He was also of great help on another translation case I had last year :
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...hlight=rencong

Best regards,
Willem

Pfewww... finally picked up the piece at the postoffice today.

The real thing is better that the pictures from the seller.
Lovely laminated blade. and an bonus inscription on the hilt that looks text-book arabic to me.

Also the other text is now probably better to read.
I hope that Jentayu and/or Mohd can take an additional look.

Best regards,.
Willem

Hi Willem
looks like ...but apparently ... no :shrug:
anyway, in phonetics, the sounds give;
- AM KHOUR KHOU KOU CHING
but please don't ask for what that mean ... in Arabic :p

à +

Dom

Hi Willem,

So sorry for the late reply because I just opened my mailbox and read your email this morning :o

Congrats for acquiring the beautiful Klewang (i.e. or Parang Lading Jantan) Aceh.

Those inscriptions are Malay words written in Jawi.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/attach...9142&stc=1.jpg

ﻻفــن = lapan = eight
هــاري = hari = day
بــولــن = bulan = month
ربــيــع ال = rabi' ula = most probably is "Rabiul Ula" or "Rabiul Awal" which is the 3rd month of the Hijriyah Calender.
ســنــة = sanah = year (i.e. Arabic)
1317 = 1317 Hijriyah = Hijriyah year 1317 (i.e. 1899)

ﻻفــن هــاري بــولــن ربــيــع ال ســنــة 1317 = lapan hari bulan rabi' ula sanah 1317 = The eight day of the month of Rabiul Ula in the Hijriyah year of 1317 = ~ Monday 17th July 1899

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/attach...9141&stc=1.jpg

امـفــوث = ampunya = owned
حــق = hak = righteously
تــوﺀ شــيــخ = tok sheikh = a nickname which means The Old Pious

امـفــوث حــق تــوﺀ شــيــخ = ampunya hak tok sheikh = Righteously owned by Tok Sheikh

Hope this help :)

mohd

Thank you very much Mohd,

"Righteously owned by Tok Sheikh" = Old Pious.

I checked it on Google and "pious" is translated as "devoted"

Is/was it normal to use nick names in Aceh ?
Does this give any indication on the status of this person ?

My idea goes towards an Oeleebalang / spiritual leader. Do you agree ?

Thanks and best regards,
Willem

Willem, the use of nickname is not only normal in Aceh but in most parts of Malay Archipelago.
In Malaysia for example, names like Tok Janggut, Tok Gajah and Tok Pulau Manis are nicknames. Those were not their real names.

It's the culture in Malay Archipelago never to address a respectable person or an elder with his real name but his nama gelaran (i.e. nickname).
In Malaysia, Indonesia, Southern Thai and Southern Philippines they will never call you "Willem" but "Mr Willem" or "Uncle Willem" or "Pak Willem" or whatever name that they think most suitable with your age or status.

Hulubalang (i.e. Oeleebalang is the miss-spelling of it) means knight.
Tok Sheikh which means The Old Pious might be the nickname of a leader with high knowledge in Islamic religion. It also might be the nickname of a leader with Arabic family root.

mohd

Dear Mohd,

Thank you again for the explanation and for the details giving me better understanding of the culture behind this klewang.

How can we translate "tok" if we want to relate to this in terms of Mr. / Uncle, etc..

Best regards,
Willem

Funny, 17 july 1899 Teuku Nyak Arif was born ! One of indonesia national heroes from Aceh , its just an detail however..........http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teuku_Nyak_Arif