Please see..
http://www.gustavianum.uu.se/digital...ord-blades.pdf
....where the paper shows the variety of potential combinations; for example a mixed Latin, Roman, Greek puzzle with some letters reversed or upturned. The combination is not only illogical but randomly done and could even be at the discretion of the owner or maker and be loaded therefor with the possibility of a mistake; deliberate or otherwise. It is perhaps for this reason that museums have put out a general distress call through the media in an attempt to crack the codes...which aren't codes at all...since they are not logical.
The codebreaker thus has a number of codebooks to run with including all of the usual alphabets ....runes ...religious books... and sayings of the day...somewhere around the 13th Century. In addition code may also mean Talismanic numerical progression so the ability to reckon on that peculiar mathematical expertise is vital.
It is important that ethnographic enthusiasts and researchers view how these shorthand devices stepped from the medieval period into the modern era on European blades. (but don't write in ...I know there are some on Eastern blades as well)...I should say mainly on European blades!
What I find amazing still is the habit or tradition many centuries ago of casting ones favourite sword into the deepest pool..a favoured way, perhaps, of returning ones sword to the underworld as was the famous mythical sword in the legendary
Excalibur.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.