metal wall plate,is it arabic or persian?

bluebedouin · Post by **bluebedouin** » 02 Oct 2005 23:42

Hi can anyone help in identifying this language & translating it into english.I have had to put it on my ebid shop in order for it to be seen.I hope this doesn't infringe any FREELANG rules.I think it may be Arabic or perhaps Hebrew, please forgive my ignorance if not! Please take a look at http://uk.three.ebid.tv/perl/auction.cg ... mo=auction

kokoyaya · Post by **kokoyaya** » 04 Nov 2005 00:28

If nobody answers, you can contact a Freelang translator at http://www.freelang.net/translation/index.html

arkayn · Post by **arkayn** » 04 Nov 2005 14:24

It appears me difficult, Koko, since he doesn't know what language that is

bluebedouin · Post by **bluebedouin** » 09 Nov 2005 00:48

That is certainly a problem not knowing the language.Out of 170 views on the forum I have only 67 views on the picture.Hey ho that's life!

Dada · Post by **Dada** » 09 Nov 2005 05:48

Hi,

I agree the writting is kind of arabic alphabet, but that doesn't look like hebrew.
The "picture" on the plate looks like persian, or maybe assyrian or something like that (or maybe I'm just saying stupidities!). I guess that Farsi (today's persian language) uses kind of arabic alphabet.

So my advice is you edit your title to attract arabic speakers.

PS: do you collect antiquities?
is it a real one or reproduction?

Bacaline · Post by **Bacaline** » 09 Nov 2005 17:49

hello,
it's definitivly arabic alphabet but the language could be persan or arabic.
it's a signature I guess something like :

صفيان
Sufyân
which is a name for a man

رحان or رجل
rihân or rajul
it could be a name or the word "man"

Unfortunately it's difficult to read on the plate and the letters are very similar in arabic : an additional point changes all the meaning

Vikr · Post by **Vikr** » 09 Nov 2005 17:58

Bacaline wrote:hello,
it's definitivly arabic alphabet but the language could be persan or arabic.

Or Urdu

Bacaline · Post by **Bacaline** » 09 Nov 2005 18:04

mille fois confuse Vikr

mais je sais que tu sais que je savais, pas vrai ?

mansio · Post by **mansio** » 10 Nov 2005 15:24

The "y" letter slanted backwards is typical of Urdu.
The picture is a copy of a famous Persian relief depicting an Achaemenid king hunting (I don't remember which one).

bluebedouin · Post by **bluebedouin** » 13 Nov 2005 21:07

Many thanks to all who have replied & offered suggestions.As you can see I have followed Dadas advice & altered the heading.In reply to his question:no I am not a collector as such,I do occasional house clearances where it turned up.I don't know about its authenticity,this is my reason for submitting it to find out as much as I can.I have tried to put a better pictureof the writing on ebid but it will only let me change the main one of the whole plate.Bacalines 'SUFYAN' is a definite look alike of the latter part of it.

Dada · Post by **Dada** » 15 Nov 2005 00:25

bluebedouin: thanks for satisfying my curiosity

Hope you will find out more about this plate. Don't hesitate to give news if you have more information about it (and the writting on it)... you know we are curious!

bluebedouin · Post by **bluebedouin** » 15 Nov 2005 20:13

Thanks to Mansio for directing me towards the Achaemenid king.I have narrowed it down to Darius 1,2 or 3.Darius 1 ruled from 522 - 486 BC. I have managed to find a couple of similar pictures on the web but there are definite differences,that's why I'm not sure which Darius it is!I will keep searching.

Dada · Post by **Dada** » 16 Nov 2005 00:05

I've made some further investigations

I have the luck to have a lot of overseas students in my university. I showed the writtings to a saudi student, iranian one and pakistanese one.
- Iranian said he could read it however some details in the writting style were different in Farsi, and there is no meaning in Farsi.
- Arabic said he could read it as well, but this was not arabic writting style, and some letters looked like Urdu. No meaning in arabic.
- Pakistanese guy (whose native language is Urdu) said it looks like kind of old Urdu. However the 2 words don't make sense in modern Urdu. He said this is probably the Name of a man, or maybe of a place. The second word (so the one on the left) looks like the word "city" in pretty old Urdu.

Conclusion: letters are definitely closer to Urdu. However there is no meaning in modern language, strongly lools like a name (man or a city).
Question: how old can be old Urdu alphabet? he told me at least 1500 years. This alphabet was spreaded by arabic influence around that time I guess. But Aechemenid dynasty was around 500-300 BC if i'm right.
So there is kind a gap there, or the inscription could have been made much later??
And why Urdu? this is a persian plate. Does that mean that Urdu is the closest to ancient persian language?
your turn to play...

mansio · Post by **mansio** » 16 Nov 2005 18:23

In my opinion it's a souvenir plate that some tourist has brought back from Iran. The writing is probably the name of the craftsman.
Only one letter (the last to the left) is Urdu style.

Vikr · Post by **Vikr** » 16 Nov 2005 18:55

Dada wrote: Does that mean that Urdu is the closest to ancient persian language?

Urdu is Hindustani written with arabic letters with some more loanwords from persian and arabic languages than in Hindi whichone is written with devanagri alphabet

LokaNova et Freelang

metal wall plate,is it arabic or persian?

metal wall plate,is it arabic or persian?

METAL WALL PLATE