Ottoman Turkish

Historically, Ottoman Turkish was transformed in three eras:

• Eski Osmanlı Türkçesi اسکی عثمانلی تورکچه‌سی (Old Ottoman Turkish): the version of Ottoman Turkish used until the 16th century. It was almost identical with the Turkish used by Seljuk empire and Anatolian beyliks and was often regarded as part of Eski Anadolu Türkçesi اسکی آناطولی تورکچه‌سی (Old Anatolian Turkish).
• Orta Osmanlı Türkçesi اورتا عثمانلی تورکچه‌سی (Middle Ottoman Turkish) or Klasik Osmanlıca (Classical Ottoman Turkish): the language of poetry and administration from the 16th century until Tanzimat.
• Yeni Osmanlı Türkçesi یڭی عثمانلی تورکچه‌سی (New Ottoman Turkish): the version shaped from the 1850s to the 20th century under the influence of journalism and Western-oriented literature.

In 1928, following the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, widespread language reforms (a part in the greater framework of Atatürk's Reforms) instituted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk saw the replacement of many Persian and Arabic origin loanwords in the language with their Turkish equivalents. One of the main supporters of the reform was the Turkish nationalist Ziya Gökalp.^[5] It also saw the replacement of the Perso-Arabic script with the extended Latin alphabet. The changes were meant to encourage the growth of a new variety of written Turkish that more closely reflected the spoken vernacular and to foster a new variety of spoken Turkish that reinforced Turkey's new national identity as being a post-Ottoman state.^{[citation needed]}

See the list of replaced loanwords in Turkish for more examples of Ottoman Turkish words and their modern Turkish counterparts. Two examples of Arabic and two of Persian loanwords are found below.

Historically speaking, Ottoman Turkish is the predecessor of modern Turkish. However, the standard Turkish of today is essentially Türkiye Türkçesi (Turkish of Turkey) as written in the Latin alphabet and with an abundance of neologisms added, which means there are now far fewer loan words from other languages, and Ottoman Turkish was not instantly transformed into the Turkish of today. At first, it was only the script that was changed, and while some households continued to use the Arabic system in private, most of the Turkish population was illiterate at the time, making the switch to the Latin alphabet much easier. Then, loan words were taken out, and new words fitting the growing amount of technology were introduced. Until the 1960s, Ottoman Turkish was at least partially intelligible with the Turkish of that day. One major difference between Ottoman Turkish and modern Turkish is the latter's abandonment of compound word formation according to Arabic and Persian grammar rules. The usage of such phrases still exists in modern Turkish but only to a very limited extent and usually in specialist contexts; for example, the Persian genitive construction takdîr-i ilâhî (which reads literally as "the preordaining of the divine" and translates as "divine dispensation" or "destiny") is used, as opposed to the normative modern Turkish construction, ilâhî takdîr (literally, "divine preordaining").

In 2014, Turkey's Education Council decided that Ottoman Turkish should be taught in Islamic high schools and as an elective in other schools, a decision backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who said the language should be taught in schools so younger generations do not lose touch with their cultural heritage.^[6]

 

Most Ottoman Turkish was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet (Ottoman Turkish: الفبا, romanized: elifbâ), a variant of the Perso-Arabic script. The Armenian, Greek and Rashi script of Hebrew were sometimes used by Armenians, Greeks and Jews. (See Karamanli Turkish, a dialect of Ottoman written in the Greek script; Armeno-Turkish alphabet)

 

The actual grammar of Ottoman Turkish is not different from the grammar of modern Turkish.The focus of this section is on the Ottoman orthography; the conventions surrounding how the orthography interacted and dealt with grammatical morphemes related to conjugations, cases, pronouns, etc.

• Nominative and Indefinite accusative/objective: -∅, no suffix. گول göl 'the lake' 'a lake', چوربا çorba 'soup', گیجه gece 'night'; طاوشان گترمش ṭavşan getirmiş 'he/she brought a rabbit'.
• Genitive: suffix ڭ/نڭ –(n)ıñ, –(n)iñ, –(n)uñ, –(n)üñ. پاشانڭ paşanıñ 'of the pasha'; كتابڭ kitabıñ 'of the book'.
• Definite accusative: suffix ی –ı, -i: طاوشانی گترمش ṭavşanı getürmiş 'he/she brought the rabbit'. The variant suffix –u, –ü does not occur in Ottoman Turkish orthography (unlike in Modern Turkish), although it's pronounced with the vowel harmony. Thus, گولی göli 'the lake' vs. Modern Turkish gölü.^[7]
• Dative: suffix ه –e: اوه eve 'to the house'.
• Locative: suffix ده –de, –da: مكتبده mektebde 'at school', قفسده ḳafeṣde 'in (the/a) cage', باشده başda 'at a/the start', شهرده şehirde 'in town'. The variant suffix used in Modern Turkish (–te, –ta) does not occur.
• Ablative: suffix دن –den, -dan: ادمدن adamdan 'from the man'.
• Instrumental: suffix or postposition ایله ile. Generally not counted as a grammatical case in modern grammars.

Table below lists nouns with a variety of phonological features that come into play when taking case suffixes. The table includes a typical singular and plural noun, containing back and front vowels, words that end with the letter ه ـه ([a] or [e]), both back and front vowels, word that ends in a ت ([t]) sound, and word that ends in either ق or ك ([k]). These words are to serve as references, to observe orthographic conventions:

• Which vowels are written using the 4 letters: ʾalif ا, wāw و, hāʾ ه ـه, and yāʾ ي; and which are not;
• Where words or morphemes are connected to each other, and where they are separated with the use of Zero-width non-joiner.
• where a final letter is softened when followed by a vowel sound, and when not; both in Ottoman orthography and in modern Latin orthography.
• Where harmony of vowel roundness exists in spoken pronounciation, and in modern Latin orthography, but not in Ottoman orthography.
• Where the letter ڭ is used and when the letter ن.

Table below shows the suffixes for creating possessed nouns. Each of these possessed nouns, in turn, take case suffixes as shown above.

For third person (singular and plural) possessed nouns, that end in a vowel, when it comes to taking case suffixes, a letter - ـنـ [n] comes after the possessive suffix. For singular endings, the final vowel ی is removed in all instances. For plural endings, if the letter succeeding the additional - ـنـ [n] is a vowel, the final vowel ی is kept; otherwise it is removed (note the respective examples for kitaplarını versus kitaplarından). Examples below :

Below table shows the positive conjugation for two sample verbs آچمق açmak (to open) and سولمك sevilmek (to be loved). The first verb is the active verb, and the other has been modified to form a passive verb. The first contains back vowels, the second front vowels; both containing non-rounded vowels (which also impacts pronounciation and modern Latin orthograhpy).^[9]

Below table shows the conjugation of a negative verb, and a positive complex verb expressing ability. In Turkish, complex verbs can be constructed by adding a variety of suffixes to the base root of a verb. The two verbs are یازممق yazmamaq (not to write) and سوه‌بلمك sevebilmek (to be able to love).^[9]

Another common category of verbs in Turkish (more common in Ottoman Turkish than in modern Turkish), is compound verbs. This consists of adding a Persian or Arabic active or passive participle to a neuter verb, to do (ایتمك etmek) or to become (اولمق olmaq). For example, note the following two verbs:

• راضی اولمق razı olmaq (to consent) ;
• قتل ایتمك katletmek (to slaughter); تشكر ایتمك teşekkür etmek (to thank);
• ایو اولنمق iyi olunmak (to get better).

Below table shows some sample conjugations of these two verbs. The conjugation of the verb "etmek" isn't straightforward, because the root of the verb ends in a [t]. This sound transforms into a [d] when followed by a vowel sound. This is reflected in conventions of Ottoman orthography as well.

In Turkish, there is a verb representing to be, but it is a defective verb. It doesn't have an infinitive or several other tenses. It is usually a suffix.

Negative verb to be is created with the use of the word دگل değil, followed by the appropriate conjugation of the to be verb; or optionally used as a standalone for 3rd person.

• بن ایشجی دگلم. / ben işçi değilim: 'I am not a worker'
• او چفتجی دگلدر. / o çiftçi değildir: 'he is not a farmer'
• او چفتجی دگل. / o çiftçi değil: 'he is not a farmer'
• اگر کندم ایچون حاضر دگلسیدم. / Eğer kendim için hazır değilseydim.: 'If I'm not ready for myself.'

Generally, the verbs 'to exist' and 'to have' are expressed using what's called an existential copula, the word وار var.

• او وار. / ev var.: 'There is a house'

The verb 'to have' is expressed in the same way, except that the object noun will take a possessive pronoun, producing sentences that will literally mean "there exists house of mine".

• اوم وار. / evim var.: 'I have a house'

The verbs 'to exist' and 'to have' conjugated for other tenses, are expressed in the same way, with a possessive pronoun if needed, and copula وار var, followed by the 3rd person singular form of the verb 'to do: ایتمك etmek attached as a suffix (or separate as a stanadalone verb); as conjugated in the above section.

• اوڭ واردی. / evin vardı.: 'You had a house'
• بناء وارملییدی. / bina varmalıydı.: 'There had to be a building'

The verbs 'not to exist' and 'not to have' are created in the exact same manner and conjugation, except that the copula یوق yok is used.

• او یوق. / ev yok.: 'There isn't a house'
• اوم یوق. / evim yok.: 'I don't have a house'
• اوڭ یوقدی. / evin yoktu.: 'You didn't have a house'
• بناء یوقملییدی. / bina yokmalıydı.: 'There must not have been a building'

Turkish being an agglutinative language as opposed to an analytical one (generally), means that from a single root verb, with the addition of a variety of morphemes and suffixes, multiple new and different verbs meanings can be expressed in single but larger words.

Below table is a sample from the verb تپمك tepmek meaning 'to kick', whose root (which is also 2nd person imperative) is تپ tep. Each of the produced new verbs below can be made into an infinitive with the addition of ـمك -mek at the end.^[8]

 

Ottoman Turkish was highly influenced by Arabic and Persian. Arabic and Persian words in the language accounted for up to 88% of its vocabulary.^[10] As in most other Turkic and foreign languages of Islamic communities, the Arabic borrowings were borrowed through Persian, not through direct exposure of Ottoman Turkish to Arabic, a fact that is evidenced by the typically Persian phonological mutation of the words of Arabic origin.^[11][12][13]

The conservation of archaic phonological features of the Arabic borrowings furthermore suggests that Arabic-incorporated Persian was absorbed into pre-Ottoman Turkic at an early stage, when the speakers were still located to the north-east of Persia, prior to the westward migration of the Islamic Turkic tribes. An additional argument for this is that Ottoman Turkish shares the Persian character of its Arabic borrowings with other Turkic languages that had even less interaction with Arabic, such as Tatar, Bashkir, and Uyghur. From the early ages of the Ottoman Empire, borrowings from Arabic and Persian were so abundant that original Turkish words were hard to find.^[14] In Ottoman, one may find whole passages in Arabic and Persian incorporated into the text.^[14] It was however not only extensive loaning of words, but along with them much of the grammatical systems of Persian and Arabic.^[14]

In a social and pragmatic sense, there were (at least) three variants of Ottoman Turkish:

• Fasih Türkçe فصیح تورکچه (Eloquent Turkish): the language of poetry and administration, Ottoman Turkish in its strict sense;
• Orta Türkçe اورتا تورکچه (Middle Turkish): the language of higher classes and trade;
• Kaba Türkçe قبا تورکچه (Rough Turkish): the language of lower classes.

A person would use each of the varieties above for different purposes, with the fasih variant being the most heavily suffused with Arabic and Persian words and kaba the least. For example, a scribe would use the Arabic asel (عسل) to refer to honey when writing a document but would use the native Turkish word bal when buying it.

The transliteration system of the İslâm Ansiklopedisi has become a de facto standard in Oriental studies for the transliteration of Ottoman Turkish texts.^[16] In transcription, the New Redhouse, Karl Steuerwald, and Ferit Devellioğlu dictionaries have become standard.^[17] Another transliteration system is the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (DMG), which provides a transliteration system for any Turkic language written in Arabic script.^[18] There are few differences between the İA and the DMG systems.

• Old Anatolian Turkish language
• Culture of the Ottoman Empire
• List of Persian loanwords in Turkish

English

• V. H. Hagopian (1907). Ottoman-Turkish conversation-grammar: a practical method of learning the Ottoman-Turkish language, Volume 1. D. Nutt. Online copies: [2], [3], [4]
• Charles Wells (1880). A practical grammar of the Turkish language (as spoken and written). B. Quaritch. Online copies from Google Books: [5], [6], [7]
• V. H. Hagopian (1908). Key to the Ottoman-Turkish conversation-grammar. Nutt.
• Sir James William Redhouse (1884). A simplified grammar of the Ottoman-Turkish language. Trübner.
• Frank Lawrence Hopkins (1877). Elementary grammar of the Turkish language: with a few easy exercises. Trübner.
• Sir James William Redhouse (1856). An English and Turkish dictionary: in two parts, English and Turkish, and Turkish and English. B. Quarich.
• Sir James William Redhouse (1877). A lexicon, English and Turkish: shewing in Turkish, the literal, incidental, figurative, colloquial, and technical significations of the English terms, indicating their pronunciation in a new and systematic manner; and preceded by a sketch of English etymology, to facilitate to Turkish students ... (2nd ed.). Printed for the mission by A.H. Boyajian.
• Charles Boyd, Charles Boyd (Major.) (1842). The Turkish interpreter: or, A new grammar of the Turkish language. Printed for the author.
• Thomas Vaughan (1709). A Grammar of The Turkish Language. Robinson.
• William Burckhardt Barker (1854). A practical grammar of the Turkish language: With dialogues and vocabulary. B. Quaritch.
• William Burckhardt Barker, Nasr-al-Din (khwajah.) (1854). A reading book of the Turkish language: with a grammar and vocabulary ; containing a selection of original tales, literally translated, and accompanied by grammatical references : the pronunciation of each word given as now used in Constantinople. J. Madden.
• James William Redhouse (sir.) (1855). The Turkish campaigner's vade-mecum of Ottoman colloquial language.
• Lewis, Geoffrey. The Jarring Lecture 2002. "The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success".

Other languages

• Mehmet Hakkı Suçin. Qawâ'id al-Lugha al-Turkiyya li Ghair al-Natiqeen Biha (Turkish Grammar for Arabs; adapted from Mehmet Hengirmen's Yabancılara Türkçe Dilbilgisi), Engin Yayınevi, 2003).
• Mehmet Hakkı Suçin. Atatürk'ün Okuduğu Kitaplar: Endülüs Tarihi (Books That Atatürk Read: History of Andalucia; purification from the Ottoman Turkish, published by Anıtkabir Vakfı, 2001).
• Kerslake, Celia (1998). "La construction d'une langue nationale sortie d'un vernaculaire impérial enflé: la transformation stylistique et conceptuelle du turc ottoman". In Chaker, Salem (ed.). Langues et Pouvoir de l'Afrique du Nord à l'Extrême-Orient. Aix-en-Provence: Edisud. pp. 129–138.
• Korkut M. Buğday (1999). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag (ed.). Osmanisch: Einführung in die Grundlagen der Literatursprache.

 

Ottoman Turkish test of Wiktionary at Wikimedia Incubator

 

Ottoman Turkish repository of Wikisource, the free library

 

For a list of words relating to Ottoman Turkish, see the Ottoman Turkish language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Latin to Ottoman Turkish transliteration
• Ottoman Text Archive Project
• Ottoman Turkish Language: Resources – University of Michigan
• Ottoman Turkish Language Texts
• Ottoman-Turkish-English Open Dictionary
• Ottoman<->Turkish Dictionary – University of Pamukkale You can use ? character instead of an unknown letter. It provides results from Arabic and Persian dictionaries, too.
• Ottoman<->Turkish Dictionary – ihya.org
• Kubbealtı Lugatı