Help translating very old inscription (possibly Arabic?)

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jessicamoris3
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Help translating very old inscription (possibly Arabic?)

Postby jessicamoris3 » 2016-01-08, 16:58

Hello there,

Can anyone please help me translate the inscription on this plate, or at least help me identify the language?

My parents purchased this in Turkey decades ago; they believe it is several hundreds of years old, but lost the paperwork on it, including the translation. They think it's in Arabic, but the letters don't seem to correspond to the alphabet I looked up on Google.

Any help solving this family mystery would be greatly appreciated!!

Jessica
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Tom Snow
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Re: Help translating very old inscription (possibly Arabic?)

Postby Tom Snow » 2016-01-09, 5:01

It is Arabic...but I'm afraid it's upside down. :) I'll see what I can do with it...
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Tom Snow
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Re: Help translating very old inscription (possibly Arabic?)

Postby Tom Snow » 2016-01-09, 5:50

This was harder than I thought. I have a hard time reading some handwriting and fancy calligraphic scripts. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I can take my notes here and go further.

The first word looks like قسطحه ("qustaha" or something like it) but that doesn't mean anything I know of, and it's not in the dictionary. Maybe, if I'm misreading one letter, and seeing another where there is none, it could be قطعة (qut3a) which means "plot of land."

لى (li) = "for me"

The next one is hard. All I can think is مسلحى (muselha) which would mean "armed" (but spelled wrong), or مسلجى (muselja) which doesn't mean anything that I know of.

حسن (Hassan) = probably someone's name

The last word is hard to figure out because the first letter is somehow faded or smudged. If it is what I think, then its منك (minku), meaning "for you."

Finally, the number 1173, probably a year on the Islamic calendar. The current Islamic year in 1437, and a year on that calendar is 10~ days shorter than on ours, putting 1173 somewhere in the mid-late 1700s.

If you got it in Turkey, and it's from the late 1700s, maybe it's not Arabic but Turkish? Back then Turkish was written in Arabic script.
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jessicamoris3
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Re: Help translating very old inscription (possibly Arabic?)

Postby jessicamoris3 » 2016-01-09, 14:04

Thank you so much, Tom! Had to laugh that I had it upside-down--that explains why I couldn't match it to any alphabets I looked at. :wink:

Very, very interesting. I'm sure you're right about the date--that corresponds to what my dad remembers the seller telling him. He bought it in Ankara; a local took him to a market where only other locals shopped (no tourists), so he always thought it was authentic. I'll be curious to see if anyone else has any luck. This is a great starting point though! Thanks again!


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