silver mounted jambia

Rivkin · 30th August 2005, 09:18 PM

that definitely looks like hebrew to me. lamed with "a" wovel, wav,nun?,chet/he?,???.

One should bear in mind that hebrew for "secular use" is written differently by different communities, it's ok that small signature on metal is much more "squarish" and simplistic than the fonts one can find in books.

Another expanation is that it's an imitation of really old arabic (nabatean or "south arabian script"), or may be even arameic, but in my opinion it's hebrew - nabatean is dead (unless this blade is at least 1000 years old ?), and arameic is not characteristic to yemen.

It's really a puzzling writing, well hidden as well...
P.S. One more thing - in my experience sometimes _very_ illiterate arabic tend to be squarish and unlike all other arabic one can see...So I would wait for experts on arabic to come in and evaluate the signature.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Threaded Mode

30th August 2005, 09:18 PM	#11
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	that definitely looks like hebrew to me. lamed with "a" wovel, wav,nun?,chet/he?,???. One should bear in mind that hebrew for "secular use" is written differently by different communities, it's ok that small signature on metal is much more "squarish" and simplistic than the fonts one can find in books. Another expanation is that it's an imitation of really old arabic (nabatean or "south arabian script"), or may be even arameic, but in my opinion it's hebrew - nabatean is dead (unless this blade is at least 1000 years old ?), and arameic is not characteristic to yemen. It's really a puzzling writing, well hidden as well... P.S. One more thing - in my experience sometimes _very_ illiterate arabic tend to be squarish and unlike all other arabic one can see...So I would wait for experts on arabic to come in and evaluate the signature.