Can You Help Decode The Unknown Language On This 750-Year-Old Sword?

In 1825 , a three - foot - long brand was uncovered from a river on the easterly toll of England . “ If struck with sufficient force , it could easily have slice a man ’s head in two , ” writes the British Library’sJulian Harrison . Though its likely use might be obvious , the gold dedication on its face is not .

The bladebelongs to the British Museumbut is presently on display at the British Library as part of an exhibit on the Magna Carta . The sword dates from between 1250 and 1330 , and the museum show out that is n’t too unlike from those being brandish inthis manuscript from around the same time(above ) , detailing the seduction of Normandy by the French .

But while its gravelly chronology is n’t a mystery , a item of its design is . The sword ’s face is inlay with an “ unclear inscription ” in gold telegram :

Spacex Starship Separation

NDXOXCHWDRGHDXORVI+

In a blog spot on the library’smedieval manuscripts bloglast week , Harrison put out a supplication to the cyberspace at large : Ca n’t someone break this code and separate us what is say ? “ It has been speculated that this is a religious invocation , since the speech is unknown , ” Harrison wrote . “ Can you have a go at trying to decipher it for us ? ”

Looks like medieval Welsh ..

Lilo And Stitch 2025

“ No covering shall be over me ” ?

Possibly meaning the sword and it ’s ’ proprietor will always be ready for battle ?

Another user , Tannasgh , order that the Florida key to figuring out the birthplace of the speech might be the W :

CMF by Nothing Phone 2 Pro has an Essential Key that’s an AI button

Any symbology that might appear on that side is very important . From an alphabet perspective , I was immediately come to by the inclusion of the letter W as it was n’t in general use in that form until some gunpoint during the 14th 100 when it begin tilt from begin written as the the digraph to being compose as the ligature more oft as the 15th and 16th centuries approached . I do n’t think I would have stop if it were n’t in the form it is in . In the early versions of the W binder it is most commonly written as two quintuplet ’s whose leg cross over each other . Time and scribal laziness finally eliminate the crossed sections for ease of piece of writing . This particular W letter variant has an solar apex that is half the height of the implements of war of the W letter suggesting that the etching was added nearer the 15 or 16th century . It is important to note that the W alphabetic character form is used natively in : German , Dutch , English , Welsh , Polish , Walloon and Maltese . Most romance languages include the Latin of the day did not use the W.

One particularly interesting banknote , from Marc van Hasselt of Utrecht University ’s Hastatus Heritage Consultancy , explain how alike swords have been retrieve all over Europe , hold likewise inscrutable phrase . According to Hasselt , it seems the “ most potential ” that the inscriptions are in Latin , though :

Using the excellent inquiry by Thomas Wagner and John Worley , an mental image of a enormously successful knightly workshop was created , form ‘ magical ’ swords for the elite . The blade themselves are of a mellow quality , but what most catches the eye are the inscriptions . Both their mysterious mental object and the similarities in the lettering are striking . A sword from Sweden might use the same more or less curved 10 as the River Witham sword . A sword currently in Berlin has an I - S muscle contraction also used on a brand found in the Netherlands . These similarity go so far as to suggest the same hand in making the inscriptions . However , their content are still a enigma , regardless of their origin .

Photo: Jae C. Hong

That ’s an challenging estimation — that these inscriptions might have served a religious intention , perhaps even as a marketing tool to attract the “ elite group ” to this workshop . Hasselt point out similar inscriptions on other sword :