samsamka: (geeky)
samsamka ([personal profile] samsamka) wrote2009-04-25 02:32 pm
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Arabic speakers?

Dear lazywebs,

Can anyone read this?

From Drop Box


It's inscribed on a signet ring that I bought in Jerusalem (this drawing is, of course, a mirror image of what's on the ring, since the writing in signet rings is always backwards - this is how it should the actual stamp should look). The vendor claimed it didn't actually say anything, but someone else who saw it said it did but that they didn't read Arabic well enough to read it. I am guessing it's just someone's name, or initials, but it would be cool to know.

(apologies if the letters are messed up somewhat - I couldn't get a good, clear photo of the actual stamp, so I had to copy it freehand)

edit: here's the actual ring, mirror-flipped in photoshop thanks to [livejournal.com profile] greyling!

From Israel 2009 #2

[identity profile] sammka.livejournal.com 2009-04-25 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
there's also a significant possibility it isn't even writing - the person I bought it from could arguably have been saying that it was just marks made to look like arabic, or letters that don't spell anything. It's a signet ring, so it could have easily been just someone's initials, or even just marks written by an illiterate person who didn't know the difference between letters and other things that looked like letters.

[identity profile] flukycoda.livejournal.com 2009-04-26 03:16 am (UTC)(link)
i'm pretty sure the first letter (reading right to left & it looks like an umbrella handle) is pronounced "naa" and the other thing halfway that also looks like an umbrella handle might be the sound for "l" unless the dot above it is connected to it (rather than to the letter following it), in which case it's an "n" sound.

sorry, this isn't very helpful. i should add that i don't know arabic but urdu - the script, however, is essentially the same. even though stylistically, urdu is written more like farsi, not arabic.

[identity profile] sammka.livejournal.com 2009-04-26 04:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks though! At least I know now that it most likely is lettering, not random marks made to look like lettering. It may be just initials, or a name.