I agree with Kubar that the image is in a pictograph-style and Jim"s suggestion that the pictogram has a representable meaning.
How's this for an interesting if fanciful tale? Suppose a traveler during the Great Game era came across a pictogram of an ancient battle (note the curved bladed sword and rounded figures with holes in them, dead people?). Say the pictogram continued to have relevance to the locals. The traveler copied the image and had it etched into the knife along with a commemorative account of the battle in the Tadjik language which I think is a version of Farsi.
Ed
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