Ethiopian Shield - request for translation from Italian

[roanoa]

Very nice shield. I missed out on it.... Now, the "label" actually reads MASSAUA. The Italian used to write the double "S" that way. And the city was known as Massaua by the Italians, not MassaWa as it is commonly refereed to.
Hope this will shed some light on the issue. Cheers.

[milandro]

Massawa (or as Italians say Massaua ) is certainly a very good explanation.

I was born in Italy, am fluent Italian speaker and am experienced in old text but I've never came across any special way to write a double ss in Italian ( the use of F instead of S is medieval to maximum 18th century and common throughout Europe ).

The U looking like an n is very common, I write it like that too.

Regardless, Massaua complies with everything else indeed.


It certainly says " Nicola de Maria ufficiale dell'Esercito" ( and he uses here again the F instead )

[roanoa]

In Italic calligraphy it is called "LONG S". It is even used in English handwriting.

[Martin Lubojacky]

Dear Ron and Milandro. Thank you both very much for your help with deciphering
Regards,
Martin

[Ian]

Originally Posted by roanoa

In Italic calligraphy it is called "LONG S". It is even used in English handwriting.

Beautiful example of handwriting in the Copperplate font. I learned to write this font in the 1950s in Grade 2 using a pen and steel nib dipped in an ink well. We used specially ruled paper that guided the height for upper and lower case letters. Thick down strokes, thin up strokes. Long risers (b,d,f,h,k,l,) semi-riser (t), long descenders (g,j,p,q,y).