Turkish Terms/Concepts for Translation from the Pre-Ottoman to Ottoman Periods: An Overview (2)

Abstract

This paper offers a brief historical overview of the pre-Ottoman and Ottoman periods in order to explore and provide for the first time a lexicon of Turkish terms/concepts for translation. The examination of various primary and secondary materials and their extratextual discourse related to translation here will serve as a small-scale genealogy as well as a background for observing multiple translational practices in Ottoman culture. My argument in this paper is that Turkish terms/concepts of translation are various and that translation in Ottoman culture should be considered within a broad scale without excluding its heterogeneity and culture-specific aspects and practices. This argument will entail, in retrospect, a wide-ranging perspective in identifying a variety of translation (terceme) practices. In this paper, I will first focus on translational terms/concepts in east Turkic or Old Turkic, particularly on Uyghur Turkish, which was recorded in runiform script and documented in manuscripts of frequently religious character produced in central Asia. Then I will examine those in west Turkic (Oghuz Turkish), i.e. Old Anatolian Turkish, which evolved later into Ottoman Turkish in Asia Minor. Finally, I will analyze the late nineteenth century definitions of translation in Ottoman Turkish lexicons.