# ب ل ر ك  ر د ث characters etched into a knife



## hopscotch

ب ل ر ك   ر د ث   

As best as I can tell, these are the characters etched into a knife that someone just gave to my brother, and I was curious as to what it means. I have put a space in between each character so that one might not affect the other by ligature; the writing is exactly as it appears on the knife.  I would really appreciate some help as I have had no luck with the online dictionaries and my knowledge of Arabic is very limited. Thanks.


----------



## Hibou57

I agree to play this game 

Hop we will find Hopscotch 

I think there at least two words... could you give us also the thing without spaces ? (exactly as it is onto the knife).

You talk about ligature as « affecting »... but you know, it is not « affecting » lol ... it is very useful 

A photo may be useful, but it is not possible on this forum


----------



## hopscotch

The first listing is how it would appear with ligature, and the second is how it actually appears on the knife blade.  I agree, there seem to be two separate words, the spacing of which falls between the kaf and the ra.  It is too bad that photos are not possible in this forum, but the game is afoot 

ب ل ر ك ر د ث :::: بلرك ردث


----------



## cherine

hopscotch said:


> The first listing is how it would appear with ligature, and the second is how it actually appears on the knife blade. I agree, there seem to be two separate words, the spacing of which falls between the kaf and the ra. It is too bad that photos are not possible in this forum, but the game is afoot
> 
> ب ل ر ك ر د ث :::: بلرك ردث


Hello there, and welcome to the forum 

These letters, unfortunately, don't make much sense.

You can still put a photo if you want. Click on "manage attachments", the "upload file".
Maybe a photo will help.


----------



## hopscotch

To see a photo of the knife with the enscription, see the link below.  I hope it will open easily for you.  Thanks again for your interest and help!


----------



## cherine

Yes, the photo is clear 

Can I ask you if you know the name of the owner of this knife ? It may be a person's name, not Arabic word.
And I doubt of some letters, but I'd wait for the opinions of others.


----------



## hopscotch

I don't know the name of the previous owner.  Some guy found the blade in the Everglades (swamplands of Forida). What name would you speculate it is? What does it sound like? Is it totally nonsensical, or could it be an uncommon name?


----------



## cherine

hopscotch said:


> I don't know the name of the previous owner. Some guy found the blade in the Everglades (swamplands of Forida). What name would you speculate it is? What does it sound like? Is it totally nonsensical, or could it be an uncommon name?


Well, if the letter before the last is a و  instead of a د the three letters can form the name "Ruth", or "Roth" (if this second name exists).
As for the first word, it can be -but this is just a wild guess because I'm not very sure I deciphered the letters right- "Brak" or something like that ب ر اك assuming that the second letter is an R and the third is a alef. Which is not very sure.

Well, this is as far as I can go  I hope others can help.


----------



## CarlosPerezMartinez

Could the first word be Black (BLAK) if its third letter is alif instead of ra? This way we have something like Black Ruth, but I don't know if that makes any sense.


----------



## cherine

Yes Carlos  I think this is very valid.


----------



## CarlosPerezMartinez

cherine said:


> Yes Carlos  I think this is very valid.


 
Thank you, Cherine, and if you Google "Black Ruth" you find some interesting results.


----------



## ayed

Yes, Black Ruth ..I agree


----------



## mansio

Couldn't the second letter from right be an "n"? That would be "Banâk".

If the other name is Ruth it could be the name and surname of a female Jewish person originating from an Arab or Iranian country, or from an Urdu speaking community. 
Now does a Jewish lady carry such a knife?


----------



## cherine

mansio said:


> Couldn't the second letter from right be an "n"? That would be "Banâk".


I don't think so. As the person who's carved the letters used naskh and put the dots of the ب and ث I think he/she would've put the dot of the ن as well, which is not the case.


> If the other name is Ruth it could be the name and surname of a female Jewish person originating from an Arab or Iranian country, or from an Urdu speaking community.
> Now does a Jewish lady carry such a knife?


I don't know about that, and I don't know either if Ruth is a widely used name among Arabic, Iranian and/or Urdu Jewish speakers.
Would a lady -of any faith- carry a knife ?
why not ?


----------



## mansio

Cherine

I can see a dot in the "n". You can notice it at the left end of the curved letter, which otherwise would be a "l".
It has the same size as the three dots of "th", but is slightly smaller as that of "b".

Those letters could be an Arabic acronym (each letter is the beginning of a word and all together it forms a sentence).

I remember an inscription on a knife which was a Shiite reference to the sword of Ali.


----------



## mujahid7ia

cherine said:


> As the person who's carved the letters used naskh and put the dots of the ب and ث I think he/she would've put the dot of the ن as well, which is not the case.



I have seen a Qur'an written like that, the only letter that did not get dots (of those that usually do, of course) was the ن and you just recognized it by it's distinct shape.



			
				cherine said:
			
		

> I don't know about that, and I don't know either if Ruth is a widely used name among Arabic, Iranian and/or Urdu Jewish speakers.
> Would a lady -of any faith- carry a knife ?
> why not ?



Uh-oh. She's dangerous


----------

