Draw me not without reason; sheath me not without honor.

[Sir Edward]

Coronado Sword
http://www.kshs.org/p/cool-things-coronado-sword/10342

Many Spanish swords bore an inscription on the blade that read "No me saques sin razon; no me enbaines sin honor", which translates to "Draw me not without reason; sheath me not without honor."

In a way this simple statement is a very good summary of chivalry, as it pertains to armed conflict. The chivalrous knight needed to know when to fight and when not to. And if the fight was needed, he needed to fight with honor, and fight to win (we have to remember that in the medieval sense, there was little honor in losing).

I think it would be cool to have this etched on my own swords, perhaps in Latin.

[Joshua Santana]

"No me saques sin razon; no me enbaines sin honor"

"Draw me not without reason; sheath me not without honor."

I like that phrase, and I agree that is another aspect of Chivalry in relation to fighting.

And if the fight was needed, he needed to fight with honor, and fight to win (we have to remember that in the medieval sense, there was little honor in losing).

I agree on that point!

[Sir William]

Seeing as one of the Latin words for sheath is 'vagina', I wonder what these online translators will come up with.  Here's one:

Duco mihi non frustra ; tondeo mihi non vacuus veneratio

The 'mihi' doesn't seem to be...real?

[Sir James A]

I think it would be cool to have this etched on my own swords, perhaps in Latin.

I was thinking the same thing, but I never learned what sheath was when I took latin in school, so I turned to a translator. Uh... you may want to rethink it, or we may want to come up with an alternate word for sheath....

"Traho non sin causa; me vagina ignobil" (this is my best shot at it, using "cause" instead of "reason" and looking up what "sheath" is)

"Eripe me non sine causa; me vagina ignobilis" (this is what google translate gave - which is odd because i thought eripe is "save")

You could use "return" instead of "sheath", and "Draw me not without reason; sheath me not without honor" would be similar to "Eripe me non sine causa; me redire ignobilis".

It's a very cool phrase. I vaguely recall something similar in an asian martial arts movie where something was said along the lines of "Don't draw your sword in anger, but when drawn, don't sheath it until your enemies have fallen" - I know I've butchered the exact wording, but that was the gist of it, and it was an older movie.

EDIT: Doh! Ninja'd by Sir William. I also looked up scabbard, and it gives the same word. I don't recall ever seeing "mihi" in latin at school.

[Sir Edward]

Does Latin at all make a distinction between "sheath" as a noun, and "sheath" as a verb? I think "return" or "put away" have the right connotation.

Otherwise, I suppose you don't need to store the sword in a sheath. You can also put it in a box.

[Sir Rodney]

       

[Sir Patrick]

"Sword In a Box"?  Wasn't that a Saturday Night Live bit?

[Thorsteinn]

If I get a sword with inlay it'll say BrynjubĂ­tr (maille-biter) in Futhark.

[Sir Edward]

"Sword In a Box"?  Wasn't that a Saturday Night Live bit?

Yeah, the song you're thinking of started up in my head when I wrote that message.

[Sir James A]

Does Latin at all make a distinction between "sheath" as a noun, and "sheath" as a verb? I think "return" or "put away" have the right connotation.

Not that I could figure out, since they're spelled the same, but I'm far from even passably acceptable at this - I haven't taken a class in almost 15 years.

http://translate.google.com/#en|la|sheath

This might be an alternative:

http://translate.google.com/#la|en|involucrum

It says it's a noun, so it wouldn't be proper for the action of sheathing, but maybe we should mix up a word or two here and there, so that after we're gone, and the conspiracy theorists find out about the order, and they find our gear, and they translate it and say "wait, there's something not quite right with that. just who WERE they, anyway??" ... then, we can laugh about it from the other side.

Otherwise, I suppose you don't need to store the sword in a sheath. You can also put it in a box.

I was going to write my above post with "Step 1", but you guys got it covered already.

[Sir William]

"Sword In a Box"?  Wasn't that a Saturday Night Live bit?

Yeah, the song you're thinking of started up in my head when I wrote that message.

I hate to say it, but that was the first thing that popped up into my head as well.  Damn Justin Timberlake.  lol