There’s some Arabic writing on this sword, which is a Nilotic Sudanese kaskara from the Mahdist era (1884-1898). I’d like to know what the words on the blade are, if anyone would be so kind as to translate. My apologies for the script not being very clear; it’s a very old sword and it’s seen a lot of action.
Thanks,
.:Nichol:.
Are you sure its Arabic? It looks a little like some of the Berber languages.
The writing is hard to make out. But it’s Arabic all right.
It looks like the first word (starting near the hilt) is hâdhâ, ‘this’. As if it’s saying ‘This is…’
The next word starts with"K-"; looks like it might be kaffah meaning ‘palm of the hand’ or ‘grip’. I can’t be sure. The beginning of the third word looks like “L-” something. The preposition li- means ‘for’ or ‘(belonging) to’ so it might be telling the name of the owner, except that the script is pretty well obliterated after that point. The next two letters might be F-D or Q-D; hard to say because the dots that distinguish Q from F aren’t used here.
I’m probably wrong, because the gender agreement of the first two words doesn’t match. If the second word is kaffah, the first should be hâdhihi. There seems to be some writing down under the K, which might form the ending of hâdhihi.
The second line of script is even harder to make out. Sorry. You need an epigraphist. I’m printing out the picture and when I go back to work on Monday I’ll ask for help if anybody can make out any more words than I can.
Thanks Jomo Mojo, I really appreciate your help!
.:Nichol:.
Just out of curiosity, Nichol, how did you come to possess a blade of such obvious antiquity?
(Yeah, I’m a curious sumbitch. Feel free to ignore me. :))
The kaskara doesn’t actually belong to me, Derleth, though I wish it did. Its owner is an associate of mine, who inherited it from relatives who served in the Sudan and Southwestern Africa pre-WWII. He also has a beautiful Jambiyya from Southern Iraq with a golden sheath, a horn-handled Nepalese Kora, and many other remarkable family heirlooms. I’ve seen kaskaras similar to the one above auctioned for about 300 dollars.
.:Nichol:.
I have translated it.
Jomo Mojo was correct about the first part, he just failed understand the rest which clearly states “made in China”.
Agreed, that script looks nothing like Tifinagh. It appears to be kufic in style.
I agree it starts with a ha, but the next letter is obscure. I suppose it is hatha as you say, but hard to read.
I don’t think that is a fa, more like a waw to me.
Good bloody luck, you need a full size image of higher quality I would say, that’s bloody hard script there, and it’s badly worn to boot.
As to origins, well old war booty …
I showed the picture to several Arabic language experts who are better than I at reading illegible script — experts who work all day long puzzling out illegible Arabic script — and every one of them was as baffled as I was. I came up empty-handed. I’m afraid the sword is in such poor condition, and even though I Photoshopped the pic to improve legibility as much as possible, the pic doesn’t convey enough information to allow reading. Sorry.
It says, “This is the sword used by Joseph, brother of Jesus”.
