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cpellp -

My Mom and I found this jade stamp in some boxes my Dad had been storing for a long time, and are
wondering what the characters mean and/or what the stamp may have been used for. Can anyone
provide any assistance with translating? Please let us know, we appreciate any help, please
respond to thread and/or e-mail cpellp@bellsouth.net. THANKS so much.



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skylee -

The photo is upside down. And since it is a stamp, it would be much easier if you would just stamp
it on a piece of paper and let us see the paper instead.

This is what I see -> if you flip the mirror verion of the picture upside down, then I see either
"KUK" or "KJK" on top. It could be an abbreviation or the initials of a name. There are two
characters below. The one on the left is "凱" (pronounced Kai) (the "山" on top left corner
looks like an "E"). I am not sure about the charcter on the right. I guess it is the
transliteration of a name.










JimmySeal -

I believe the character on the right is 拉 (la).

Here is an auto-generated seal script rendering of 凱拉










madizi -

It is written (if I'm not wrong) in 甲骨文 (jia gu wen) script which was used (again if I'm not
wrong) before 2nd cetury BC. This script is often used for stamps that tourists buy (see my stamp
in avatar).

The letters are KJK. Do you guess what they mean? Maybe initials of your fathers name? If this is
so than it would be easier to dechiper characters.










raoming -

it could not be 甲骨文.
may be it mean: 凯拉
oh，i see.it was come from an English name which translate to be 凯拉










cpellp -

I tried to ink the stamp, the ink I have isn't very good, will try to get a better image using
seal wax, but the image that Jimmy Seal generated does seem accurate, except one symbol does seem
to be slanted a bit. Does everyone think then that the characters are a translation of the
initials "KJK", which are the three initials (they aren't too clear in the attached inks stamp
image).

THANKS for everyone's help. I do find the stamp entriging. Does anyone know how these stamps are
used, or were used? Were they perhaps used to seal envelopes?

The "ink" rendering is attached.










Lu -

As you may know, Chinese does not have an alphabet like European languages have, so no characters
can be the rendering of initials. It's more likely that this is a transliteration of your father's
name. And I suppose the initials are his initials?

Such seals, also known as chops, were (and still are sometimes) used the same way a signature is
used in the West: at the bottom of documents or letters, to show who wrote (or painted) a certain
thing, and let others know it was genuine. I have a similar chop for my bank account in Taiwan.
They also make nice exotic souvenirs: get a transliteration of your name in Chinese characters,
and have it carved on a seal. My guess is that is how your father got this seal.










skylee -

Jimmy, what programme is it that does the auto-generation thing?










cpellp -

I would very much like to know what language this signature stamp uses.

Also, one last question, if everyone doesn't mind. If one did assume that the characters do
translate the initials, as someone previously pointed out, it is probably not a direct translation
for letters, one for one.

Would the translation be based on then?
* How the initials sound?
* Or how the name, said completely outloud, sounds?

OR:

perhaps a translation of what the name might mean? And if so, is there a meaning to these
characters?

I am sorry to ask so many questions, I do find these few characters and this little stamp,
intriging. My father was a very quiet person, didn't travel outside the US much, had very few
friends. I suspect he acquired this stamp when he bought or purchased a lot of used cameras, which
he was known to do.










skylee -

The initials sound like "KJK".

The characters are pronounced "Kai La". "Kai" rhymes with "why".

The meaning of the two charcters -

凱 (left) -> http://cdict.giga.net.tw/?q=%B3%CD
拉 (right) -> http://cdict.giga.net.tw/?q=%A9%D4

The two characters are probably used for transliteration, i.e. to convey the pronunciation of a
name.












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