AN 18TH CENTURY TURKISH GRAMMAR BOOK: HAZA KITAB-I SARF-I TURKI

Abstract

The Haza Kitab-i Sarf-i Turki (h.e. 1201/c.e. 1786), which is registered with the number Ms. Diez A quart. 95 at the Berlin State Library Eastern Manuscripts Collection is a small Turkish grammar (morphology) book located between the 1b-10a pages. Between the 1b-7b pages of the work, the names of goods-tools, horse riding-harnesses, beverages, weapons, clothes, shoes, fabric, animals, food, fruits, organs, dwellings, plants-spices, paint, chemical substances are listed; afterwards, possessive suffixes of many of these names were given (except for the 3rd person singular possessive suffixes). Between the pages 7b-8a, simple and compound tense verb inflection examples are given. In the pages between 8b- 10a of the work, the occupational titles of 18th-century Istanbul (193 titles) are listed under the subheading Bdb u fi Beyan-i Esnciflari. Haza Kitab-i Sarf-i Turki, which is the oldest grammar book after Muyessiretu'l-Ulum (C.E. 1530), one of the Ottoman grammar books, is noteworthy as it includes the lexical and morphological features of 18th-century Turkish as well as it sheds light on the social and professional life of 18th century Istanbul and the daily life culture of the period. The purpose of this article is to introduce the work to the world of Turcology and to contribute to the studies on the 18th-century Turkish.