Incription on keris scabbard / translation needed

A. G. Maisey · 20th March 2011, 11:44 AM

I do not read hanacaraka.

If it is written perfectly I can follow with the aid of a chart, but I cannot read it as I would read roman letters.

However, my son-in-law can read hanacaraka as easily as I read English.

From the inscription on this gandar I thought that I could read "ga", and "ka" and I was certain of only one symbol, and that was "5".

So I sent it to my son-in-law.

He could not read anything, except the "5". He referred it to several older people who are even more familiar with this script than he is, they could equally not make any sense of anything except the "5". He then borrowed some charts of various ways of writing the hanacaraka and did some comparisons. No result.

The problem is that the letters are only approximately formed, and where there should be a sandangan or a pasangan there is none, where a letter has been written it is half written only and then cut off.

Probably the person who put this on the gandar was using a personal shorthand, and he knew exactly what he had written, but it was never intended that anybody except the writer should be able to understand it.

As the inscription stands it makes no sense at all.

Asomotif, as to dates on keris, I have often had keris that had numbers or dates on them, mostly on the back of the pendok, but sometimes written in ink on the back of the wrongko. Why, I do not know, but I imagine probably to commemorate something.

asomotif · 22nd March 2011, 07:40 AM

Thank you Alan for your help,

Interesting to see that another type of letter sometimes needs much more detail to be clearly understood.

Unfortunately it brings us not closer to the meaning of the inscription.
Never the less, it is a uncommon place to find an inscription.

Maybe it was just a short note that the maker had to finish the lower part of the gandar before the 5th

Best regards,
Willem

20th March 2011, 11:44 AM	#1
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	I do not read hanacaraka. If it is written perfectly I can follow with the aid of a chart, but I cannot read it as I would read roman letters. However, my son-in-law can read hanacaraka as easily as I read English. From the inscription on this gandar I thought that I could read "ga", and "ka" and I was certain of only one symbol, and that was "5". So I sent it to my son-in-law. He could not read anything, except the "5". He referred it to several older people who are even more familiar with this script than he is, they could equally not make any sense of anything except the "5". He then borrowed some charts of various ways of writing the hanacaraka and did some comparisons. No result. The problem is that the letters are only approximately formed, and where there should be a sandangan or a pasangan there is none, where a letter has been written it is half written only and then cut off. Probably the person who put this on the gandar was using a personal shorthand, and he knew exactly what he had written, but it was never intended that anybody except the writer should be able to understand it. As the inscription stands it makes no sense at all. Asomotif, as to dates on keris, I have often had keris that had numbers or dates on them, mostly on the back of the pendok, but sometimes written in ink on the back of the wrongko. Why, I do not know, but I imagine probably to commemorate something.

22nd March 2011, 07:40 AM	#2
asomotif Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 2,235	Thank you Alan for your help, Interesting to see that another type of letter sometimes needs much more detail to be clearly understood. Unfortunately it brings us not closer to the meaning of the inscription. Never the less, it is a uncommon place to find an inscription. Maybe it was just a short note that the maker had to finish the lower part of the gandar before the 5th Best regards, Willem