# Unknown Language: message in an 18th-century engraving



## cestmoicatherine

Hello,
Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.  I am a university scholar studying a series of engravings from 1783-4, and one of the pictures has this "hidden message" carved into a wall at Versailles.  I cannot identify the language, but some of the symbols suggest Hebrew.  You'll find a detail from the illustration attached here. 

Thank you again!


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## amikama

It's not Hebrew at all. I'm moving this thread to Other Languages.


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## L'irlandais

A bit more context would definitely help.  Are you sure it is not simply Latin or French mirrored ?


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## Cagey

What is the country of origin?  What is it an engraving of?  What is the figure above it? And so on.


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## L'irlandais

The title itself, at the top of the engraving is also mirrored.  Perhaps done when the bilingual French/German inscription was added at the bottom.

Exp[é]rience a[ë]rostatique faite Versailles le 19 sept. 1783

Entitled:  Exp[é]rience a[ë]rostatique faite Versailles le 19 sept. 1783


> etching, hand-colored. | Vue d'optique shows the balloon launched by the Montgolfier brothers ascending from the Palace of Versailles, France, before the royal family, September 19, 1783. A sheep, a duck and a rooster were the only passengers aboard the first balloon flight.


Caption (German): Versuch welcher zu Versailles den 19 Sept. 1783 in Gegenwart Ihrn Majestäten ...
  Title from item, printed in reverse.

A word (or two) is (are) obsucred by the gentleman’s coat tails.  The next word is  _main_  followed by in rvriεvin »
Apart from the symbol epsilon the rest of the characters seem quite french.  Perhaps it is meant as an unintelligible text.


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## Jimbob_Disco

Is it perhaps Greek? I don’t speak any, but I can spot a fair few similarities in the alphabet.


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## Määränpää

In these two pictures, the text seems to differ (not only by being mirrored like the whole picture, but more)

1) Expérience aérostatique faite à Versailles le 19 septembre 1783 en présence de leurs Majestés, de la famille royale et de plus de 130 mille spectateurs par M.rs de Montgolfier.... : [estampe]

2) Expérience Aërostatique Faite à Versailles le 19 Septembre 1783


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## EricPreacher

@Jimbob_Disco - I kind of agree here. Looks like Greek alphabets or a form of Greek writing. Definitely Mediterranean / Southern European.


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## L'irlandais

*_ _ main  _ in rvriεvin*.  Only 3 of the 5 or 6 words are visible.
None of the above words look particularly Greek to me.

Mediterranean Alphabets ::  A vast subject.


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## libertyresreve

even if that someone can read this picture is terrible, any better picture?


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