Young Writers Society

My uncle is really into the Civil War, and he's a huge collector. He has dress swords, Sabre's, cutlass's, homemade forged daggers, uniforms, bayonets, firearms etc.

He found out I love to collect knives and daggers, so he gave me the most incredible dagger I've ever seen in my entire life! Really, it's grand but there's writing carved on the blade in Spanish and I can't seem to find out how to translate it.

I was told it was old Spanish but here's the writing:

Camaro'n que no nada
se lolleba la cascada

Other than that, I could take a picture of the dagger, if someone wants to see it but thank you for anyone taking the time to help me out. I tried for hours and couldn't find much at all.

I ran it through google translater and it came out gibberish:

Shrimp that not nothing lolleba the cascade

Hmm...

I just took Spanish III, so I should be able to figure this out, but I don't know most of those words.

I do know that 'nada' means 'swim' though. That is, if it's the word 'nadar' in the present tense.

@_@

TO THE ENGLISH-SPANISH DICTIONARY!

EDIT: I think I know what's going on. In today's standard Spanish, that phrase is complete giberish. However, it may be that it's simply an archaic form of Spanish, since languages change and evolve over time. You should have a professional translator look at it, because I don't think that any of us are going to figure it out.

I put it through the translator at freetranslation.com, and it came out like this:

Camaro' n that nothing itself lolleba the waterfall

So it couldn't translate "Camaro' n" and "lolleba".

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful!

Well, I don't do Spanish, but there are quite a few people on the site who do, and if you'd like, I can ask my French teacher, as she also teaches Spanish to GCSE. I suppose as long as you've learned enough grammar, it shouldn't be too hard to translate, but unfortunately, I only know a small amount (gracias etc).

Nada is a conjugation of nadar- to swim- in this case, since we have "shrimp" from camaron.

"Shrimp that do not swim [do something to] the cascade.

Lolleba is almost certainly a conjugation of a verb, though I've never seen this verb before, and only a few websites have this word, most of them relating to flamenco dance and guitar.

If cascade refers to a waterfall, could it be "Shrimp that do not swim fall over the cascade"? Words of wisdom...? Would make sense. But lolleba is almost certainly a colloquialism.

If no one's got it by Tuesday, I'll ask my Spanish teacher.
"Nada" 's not nothing then?

I'm pretty sure it's not, but...I could be wrong.

WOW! Thank you everyone! I mean, huge thanks for taking the time to try and decode it.

I took a few pics of the dagger, but couldn't get the writing to show up. It's actually hard to read the inscription in general. I can only read it if there is light shining on the blade or if I slant it towards a light source.

Full shot. The blade is around 7-9 inches. though I haven't measured it yet. Exotic, isn't it? Blade is very dull too. It hasn't been sharpened for a long, long time.


This isn't a great shot, but it gives an idea what I meant by if the blade isn't exposed to a light source, you can't read squat, lol.


Don't know why I rotated the picture for sure but at least everyone has a minor idea how long and large this dagger is. I predict, from the end of the handle to the tip of the blade, it has to be sixteen inches in total length.

Sophie
Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 10:00 pm

If no one's got it by Tuesday, I'll ask my Spanish teacher.
"Nada" 's not nothing then?

Oh, I would be very grateful and thankful for that.

David Guinness
Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:46 pm

Nada is a conjugation of nadar- to swim- in this case, since we have "shrimp" from camaron.

"Shrimp that do not swim [do something to] the cascade.

Lolleba is almost certainly a conjugation of a verb, though I've never seen this verb before, and only a few websites have this word, most of them relating to flamenco dance and guitar.

If cascade refers to a waterfall, could it be "Shrimp that do not swim fall over the cascade"? Words of wisdom...? Would make sense. But lolleba is almost certainly a colloquialism.

If that's what the English translation, how weird is that? lol. What is a colloquialism? I've never heard of the word before. However, you're right on a couple of the words. When I was researching, cascade kept being referred to as a waterfall and camaro'n being referred to as a shrimp or prawn. But other than that, I couldn't seem to able to translate the rest, especially lolleba.

KayJuran
Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:41 pm

Well, I don't do Spanish, but there are quite a few people on the site who do, and if you'd like, I can ask my French teacher, as she also teaches Spanish to GCSE. I suppose as long as you've learned enough grammar, it shouldn't be too hard to translate, but unfortunately, I only know a small amount (gracias etc).

Unfortunately, I never took any foreign languages in school, so I'm at a loss, lol. If that's not too much trouble for you or your French teacher, like I mentioned to Sophie, I would be very grateful for any help, even if she can decipher one word. Thank you.

This dagger is unlike anything I've ever seen and if I can at least translate the writing, I might be able to further research the dagger and find out about its roots. I suspect it was specially handcrafted, although there aren't initials, but I spent hours trying to locate its mate. Nothing.

CassandraJ
Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 7:29 pm

I put it through the translator at freetranslation.com, and it came out like this:

Camaro' n that nothing itself lolleba the waterfall

So it couldn't translate "Camaro' n" and "lolleba".

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful!

Weird, lol. And don't be sorry. You tried, and that's all I can ask for, so thank you Cassandra! Every bit of help is greatly appreciated.

fallingstar_
Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 5:54 pm

Hmm...

I just took Spanish III, so I should be able to figure this out, but I don't know most of those words.

I do know that 'nada' means 'swim' though. That is, if it's the word 'nadar' in the present tense.

@_@

TO THE ENGLISH-SPANISH DICTIONARY!

EDIT: I think I know what's going on. In today's standard Spanish, that phrase is complete giberish. However, it may be that it's simply an archaic form of Spanish, since languages change and evolve over time. You should have a professional translator look at it, because I don't think that any of us are going to figure it out.

fallingstar-

Don't be too hard on yourself. If the writing is really in old Spanish, then I would think the meaning would be more difficult to translate. Can I ask what archaic form of Spanish means? True languages and dialects change over time, so maybe this context has completely vanished. My dad joked that the dagger came from the Aztecs. I slapped him.

Ohh... *feels stupid* I actually never thought of that. I mean, finding a professional translator. Good idea.

Adam101-

Yeah, that's how the meaning came out for me mostly but I do believe Camaro'n means shrimp and Cascada means waterfall but that's all I could come close to figuring the writing out on my own. Thank you for trying Adam.

If it's that old, the spelling has probably changed. Lolleba looks rather like something that popped in in an Italian translation I was doing (not that the meaning is at all similar); spelling and form different.

'Lo lleva' - or perhaps 'llevalo' seem to be what it would look like in modern Spanish. In that case, meaning is probably 'carries it' - or along those lines. It would make some sense in the context, doubtless. ^_^

I'll have my spanish teacher look at it..

and "nada" can be a conjugated form of "nadar" or mean nothing..

Civil War? hmm..

Camaro'n que no nada
se lolleba la cascada

I think the first might be an impersonal expression.. which would mean "nada", if a verb, would be in subjenctive, givign the vern nader/nadir. no idea which, as the endings for -er/-ir in subj. are the same.. or I could be over-analyzing, which I'm very good at. I'll play with it and see what I come up with, mkay?

I'll have my spanish teacher look at it.. I'll play with it and see what I come up with, mkay?

Awesome! Thanks!

I'm getting an education, that's for sure. I was just about to post too, Mesh.

I had a friend take a peek at it, not the dagger itself but the writing. She says she's been taking Spanish for a while. She came up with:

Fish that no nothing climb (Lolleba) the cascade.

This is pretty close to what David Guinness said, or it seems. However, it's complete jibberish to me and everyone else on here, lmao. I wonder what kind of words of wisdom, the heck that is? People back in the day, huh? Sheesh...

Imp-

Sweet! Thanks for the insight. Every little bit helps.

fish that can't swim.. WAIT! I have a spanish proverb book.

AND I found it!

the modern version : Camarón que se duerme, se lo lleva la corriente.

literal translation: the current that carries off the shrimp that falls asleep.

english equivalent: don't rest on your laurels.

at least, I think that's the right one.. lemme look some more..

yep. that's the only one with a fish/shimp reference, and it makes sense in context.

edit: arg.. typos.

the modern version : Camarón que se duerme, se lo lleva la corriente.

literal translation: th ecurrent that carries off teh shrimp tha tfalls asleep.

english equivalent: don't rest on your laurels

*blinks*
*double blinks*

So, the original writing really was in old Spanish to begin with?
That translation makes better sense. At least some what.
I tried looking up what laurels meant in a dictionary but I ended up with several meanings. What does laurels mean in the english equivalent?

Other than that, wow! Like, thanks Mesh!! And thank you everyone else!!

*wipes sweat off*

Now, if I could only trace it, lol. I really wonder how old this dagger is. It would be great to find it's original owner but that's slim to none.

But thank you everyone!!

hehe, laurels.. well, the proverb means something like 'Don't stop trying tomorrow because you did something good today".. at least mom said it made sense.. I'm good at not making sense. hope that helps!