The Pernik sword is a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

double-edged

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

unearthed in the ruins of the medieval fortress of Krakra near

Pernik Pernik ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, a town in western Bulgaria (about south-west of Sofia) with a population of 70,285 . Pernik is the most populated town in western Bulgaria after Sofia. It is the main town of Pernik Province an ...

, western

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, on 1 January 1921. It bears an inscription in

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

inlay on the blade. The sword is preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Bulgaria in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

. The sword is long and up to wide. The

blade inscription A blade is the Sharpness (cutting), sharp, cutting portion of a tool, weapon, or machine, specifically designed to puncture, chop, slice, or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they a ...

is typical of the 12th-century "garbled" ''in nomine'' type, reading '. Comparable blade inscriptions range from the comparatively clear ' to the heavily distorted '', , ''. There is a scholarly tradition of attempts to interpret this type of inscription as abbreviations or contractions, e.g. reading ' as '''. Following such proposals, Mihailov (1985) proposed a tentative reading of the Pernik inscription along the lines of "'". By contrast, Dentschewa (2005) argued for a Lombardic interpretation of ', meaning 'I do not await eternity, I am eternity'.Dentschewa, ''Langobardische (?)…'', p. 1.

References

*Friedrich E. GRÜNZWEIG: ''Ein Schwert mit Inschrift aus Pernik (Bulgarien)'', Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik 61 (2006). *Dentschewa, Emilia:
Langobardische (?) Inschrift auf einem Schwert aus dem 8. Jahrhundert in bulgarischem Boden
. In:

Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur The ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur'' (English: ''Contributions to the History of the German Language and Literature'') is a German academic journal publishing articles on German language and literature. The particula ...

, Band 128 (2006) Heft 1, S. 1-11. *Dentschewa, Emilia: "+IHININIhVILPIDHINIhVILPN+ oder die Botschaft eines Schwertes aus der Zeit des Königreichs der Langobarden (?)" In: Archaeologia Bulgarica IX (2005) Heft 2, S. 99-105.

External links

Archived version

Archived version
Archaeological discoveries in Bulgaria Lombard art Medieval European swords Medieval history of Bulgaria History of Pernik Province Pernik 1921 archaeological discoveries Individual weapons {{Bulgaria-hist-stub