dumb question but.

I played GW before the inscriptions came up and recently started playing again. is there anyway to salvage inscriptions or add them to PVE weapons?

Yes, you can salvage inscriptions with a expert or higher salvage kit. You can add them to any weapon that has an inscription slot. This only pertains to weapons found in Nightfall and Eye of the North. Weapons from Factions and Prophecies do not have inscription slots.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Inscriptions

You can recognise weapon with inscriptions and weapons which can have inscriptions applied to them by the

Inscription: "<inscription name>"

in the weapon description (mouse over). Even if a weapon doesn't have an inscription on it at the time it will still say

Inscription: None

If a weapon doesn't say one of those two things it does not have an inscription and you cannot add an inscription to it.