# Unknown language: Rtuf gxc fakyxcn



## madmonkey

RTUF GXC FAKYXCN. This inscription is found on the blade of an antique saber I purchased on Ebay. It was bought out of China but appears Western in origin. Does this translate to Polish? I originally posted this to the Latin forum and am being helped by Cagey who says it is not Latin. He posted links to the pictures of the sword on Ebay.

Thanks,

RO


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## ewie

It's definitely not Polish.  Nor is it any other language I recognize.

It looks like some kind of code, to be honest.


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## origumi

I can see that you're asking it for years in some forums with no answer. Maybe your reading is incorrect. You can try posting a photo here.


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## madmonkey

I have only just acquired the sword. I believe the Chinese fellow I purchased it from has been making the inquires. I first posted to the latin group and was helped by Cagey. He posted a link located here: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2392920&goto=newpost

He posted the images from Ebay. Appreciate your interest.


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## AquisM

I've seen the photo, and he has not copied it wrongly. (Photo) I'd just like to ask: did you upload that photo? Because the name of the photo is _katana-2010_, and a katana is a Japanese sword. However, I can assure that this is not Japanese (given that it uses the Latin alphabet).

I've done a little search on Google with the strange code. Do you, by any chance, know Chinese?


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## dreamlike

I have a hard time believing that it means *anything* in *any* language, for what it's worth. It appears to be just a random sequence of letters, engraved for no apparent purpose. You might find it useful to ask the Chinese seller whether it has some hidden meaning, but I honestly doubt it. Anyway, good luck with your search, madmonkey!


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## madmonkey

I think that "Katana" is possibly a convenient term the chinese use when referencing a sword.  I also did a google search and found the chinese references. I don't speak chinese much but my google translator gave the following translation from the chinese sites: "Will the Western saber hilt engraved on two lines of letters of the alphabet, a line is rtuf .. gxc, a line is fakyxcn Which heroes know what this means".


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## dreamlike

I think you're very close to unravelling the mystery, madmonkey. I'm sure that Chinese fellows will be more than glad to help you out, since translations produced by Google translator (or any other internet translators, for that matter) are, say, far from being accurate.


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## madmonkey

It may be easier to figure out the origin of the bird symbol on the guard to get to the text meaning. Dutch?


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## AquisM

You're not far off with the translation. The poster was asking for the meaning like you are. I agree with dreamlike. It doesn't seem to resemble any language at all, which leaves two possibilities: either it is in code or you've been ripped off.


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## miguel89

I wonder if they are just meaningless random letters engraved there for the same reasons a Western craftsman might engrave Chinese characters into it, that is, to make it look exotic or mysterious. But first we would need to know whether the letters were engraved in Asia and if Roman letters ever had this kind of exotic appeal there.


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## AquisM

Well, I would say yes. A product that claims to be from the West (or in fact, foreign imports) seem to be a "value-adder". In Mainland China (and I'm not being stereotypical/offensive - just what I seem to have gathered from several visits), any product from US/Britain, or even Hong Kong/Japan would be higher priced and have more demand.


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## LilianaB

What is the alleged origin of this sword and age? Have you spoken to any sword collectors about what masters usually engraved on their swords in this particular place where those signs are engraved? Fakyxon has a similar sound to fake, but I do not want to imply anything, before you check those things with an expert on swords. Rufus von Fakyson, or something like that in an imaginary language. The first part could stand for first name, the second one for the aristocratic title and the last part could stand for a fictitious, vaguely real, last name ending in xon, or son. This name could be made up, but I am not 100% sure.

The only reference I found on the Internet to fakyxon id this site, it does not open properly, however. It has some other words using the morpheme fake - fakezmeje, and some others. Fake zmeje would be a fake snake -- a combination of the English word fake and a Russian word zmeja or zmeya - a snake. I think I bought once a piece of clothing in a boutique which had the name fakexon as a part of the company name. It was a tea shirt, I think. It was probably just a legal sort of replica of a famous couturier item. I have to look for it.        


http://www.google.com/search?client....,cf.osb&fp=e9283dc5332b6242&biw=1024&bih=589


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## ewie

I feel I should congratulate you on arriving at 'Rufus von Fakyson' from 'RTUF GXC FAKYXCN', Liliana.


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## LilianaB

Thank you Ewie. Maybe my guess was too wild, but I really think it is a made-up name that has to do with _fake_. As I said before, I bought once something that had this kind of name as a part of the brand name.


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## madmonkey

Hi All,

Just thought you might want to know I found additional information about this sword. It is an 1889 Prussian Officers Degan. Unfortunately it's a replica made in China, according to the moderator of Oldswords.com. Haven't found anything about the Stamped characters yet but they are probably like Dreamlike suggested - meaningless. Still checking. Here's a link: http://arms2armor.com/Swords/prus1889.htm


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## Copperknickers

Not any real language, that much is certain. The other possiblity to consider is that it might be a sci-fi or fantasy language, since those are extremely common on swords, especially katanas.


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## lucas-sp

I would guess that it's a cryptogram, or a letter-substitution cipher. 

If we're talking English, I would guess RTUF GXC FAKYXCN might go to something like rtuf THE fakyHEn; thus rtuf THE fakyHER or rtuf THE fakyHED. I'm thinking it could be a ren-fair name like "Gandalf the Grey" or "Robert the Bold" or "Trog the Undefeated."

Thus, a likely candidate for the last part might be...

THE CRUSHER

... but that doesn't leave a strong candidate for first name.

Another possibility is THE PILCHER, i.e. the scabbard.

Of course, this could be German. In which case I would guess that the middle word is "der." But to be honest, there isn't really enough information to decode this.


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## LilianaB

Yes, I agree. It is something of that kind. The only thing that is almost for certain is the _fake_ part, however.


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## Avrée Çostine

perhaps it's not a language but a code.


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