Persian Gulf in the Early Modern Turkey and Ottoman Lexicons and Encyclopedias

پژوهش ‎های جغرافیای سیاسی

Volume 8, Issue 3 - Serial Number 31, December 2023, Pages 1-18   

Document Type: مقالات علمی -پژوهشی

DOI: 10.22067/pg.2023.79975.1184

Authors

Mortaza Firuzi^{* 1}; Seyed Hadi Zarghani²; Hadi Azami²; zahra nasimi³

¹Researcher of Contemporary Islam Department,. Islamic Encyclopedia Foundation, Tehran, Iran.

²Associate Professor, Political Geography, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

³Ph.D. Student, Political Geography, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

There have been many changes in geographical names throughout history. After the formation of the modern nation-state in the Middle East and then the spread of nationalism in the region, geographical names played a significant role in their national identity. This method of naming also holds true for the name of the Persian Gulf. The name of the Persian Gulf has been used as the most common name in history. In this respect, despite a great deal of research on the name of the Persian Gulf, there has been little research linked to the Persian Gulf entry in Ottoman and Turkish lexicons and encyclopedias.
This paper focuses on the entries of the Persian Gulf in early modern Turkey and the Ottoman lexicon and encyclopedia, which were written before the establishing of modern nation-states in the Middle East. This research is new to his field, as no research was found regarding the Persian Gulf entry in the Turkish and Ottoman lexicons and encyclopedias. In this research, by adopting a descriptive-analytic method, the associated entries in the seven Turkish and Ottoman sources were translated and analyzed.
The results of this study show that the entries of the Persian Gulf hold a special place in modern Turkish and Ottoman sources. When it comes to the Persian Gulf, they used Baṣra Körfezi, Baḥr-i Fârs, and ʿAcem. These names are equal to one another, and there is no preference for their use. Furthermore, it was only used in the Ottoman era. However, the Persian Gulf has always been used both before and during this period, and also in the post-Ottoman period.

Keywords

Persian Gulf; Baṣra Körfezi; Lexicons; Encyclopedias; Ottoman Empire

References

1. Akalın, Ş., (2017). Ali Seydi Bey ve Sözlükleri. STAD Sanal Türkoloji Araştırmaları Dergisi, 1-7. [In Turkish]
2. Akçay, Y., (2011). Doğu’da ve Batı’da Sözlükçülüğün Gelişimi ve Osmanlı Dönemi Sözlük Metinlerine Genel Bir Bakış. Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları(4), 281-333. [In Turkish]
3. Babaei, T., (2014). The Turks' Approach to the Persian Gulf: Criticism and Evaluation of the Basra Gulf Entry in TDVİA. The First Scientific & Research Conference of the Persian Gulf, (pp. 1-21). Torbat-e Heydarieh. [In Persian]
4. Cevad, A., (1895-1896). Memâlik-i Osmaniyenin Tarih ve Coğrafya Lûgatı (Vol. I). Istanbul: Mahmud Bey Matbaasi. [In Ottoman Turkish]
5. Ceylan, M.A., (2018). Ali Cevad'ın Hayatı Ve Türkiye Coğrafyasına Katkıları. Uluslararası Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 11(61), 242-254. [In Turkish]
6. Karan, C., (December 2020). Osmanlı Son Dönemindeki Bazı Coğrafya ve Tarih Kaynaklarında Diyâr-i Bekr Vilayetinin Genel Durumu. Şarkiyat İlmi Araştırmalar Dergisi/ Journal of Oriental Scientific Research (JOSR), XII(IV), 1435-1457. [In Turkish]
7. Necdet Kestelli, R., (1927). Yeni Resimli Türkçe Kamus. İstanbul: Maarif Kitaphanesi. [In Ottoman Turkish]
8. Özcan, A., (1989). Ahmed Rifat Efendi, Yağlıkçızâde. In T. D. Vakfı (Ed.), TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (Vol. II, pp. 130-131). Istanbul: TDV İslâm Araştırmaları Merkezi. [In Turkish]
9. Redhouse, J.W., (1890). A Turkish and English Lexicon: Shewing in English the Significations of the Turkish Terms. Istanbul: American Mission.
10. Rifat, A., (1299). Lugat-ı Târihiyye ve Coğrafiyye. Istanbul: Mahmut Bey. [In Ottoman Turkish]
11. Sâmi, Ş., (1888-1889). Kamusü'l-Âlâm (Vol. I-II). İstanbul: Mihran matbaasi. [In Ottoman Turkish]
12. Sâmi, Ş., (1899-1900). Kâmûs-ı Türkî. Istanbul: Ikdam maatbasi. [In Ottoman Turkish]
13. Seydi, A., (1911-1912). Resimli Kâmûs-ı Osmânî (Vol. I). Istanbul: Matbaa ve Kütübhane-i Cihan. [In Ottoman Turkish]
14. Strauss, J., (2019). What Was (Really) Translated in the Ottoman Empire? Sleuthing Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Translated Literature. In M. Booth (Ed.), Migrating Texts: Circulating Translations around the Ottoman Mediterranean (pp. 57–94). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. [In English]
15. Uçman, A., (2010). Şemseddin Sâmi. In TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (Vol. 38, pp. 519-523). Istanbul: TDV İslâm Araştırmaları Merkezi. [In Turkish]
16. Uzun, M., (1989). Ali Seydi Bey. In TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (Vol. II, pp. 442-445). Istanbul: TDV İslâm Araştırmaları Merkezi. [In Turkish]
17. Zarghani , S., Firuzi, M., & Davaji, R. (2016). Name of the Persian Gulf in maps of the famous European cartographers from the Ottoman Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries. The 11th National & the 1st International Scientific-Research Conference of the Persian Gulf, (pp. 543-560). Bandar Abbas. [In Persian]
18. Zarghani, S., Firuzi, M., & Salehabadi, R., (2014). Exploring of the Name of the Persian Gulf in the Sources and Maps of the Ottoman Empire. The 10th National Scientific & Research Conference of the Persian Gulf, (pp. 1). Tehran. [In Persian]