Terms from Western-European and Balkan Languages Used in an Anonymous Manuscript of 15th Century

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Pages: 197-207

Abstract:

This article discusses problems concerning the usage of terms from West- European and Balkan languages in the Ottoman anonymous source of 15th c. “Gazavat-i sultan Murad bin Mehmed han”. On the basis of an elaborate analysis of foreign titles and names of rulers, military leaders, aristocrats and Christian clerics the author expresses the opinion that sources of non-Muslim and non- Ottoman origin have been used by the anonymous writer. Special attention has been paid to the etymology and the specific usage in the text of titles as: kral (king), zhoupan (governor of a province), ban (governor), despot, kapudan (captain of a ship), hersek (duke), etc. Terms referring to the clergy – papa, papas (the Pope), piscopus (bishop), mitrepolid (metropolitan bishop), vladika (bishop), the combination of words “yanyak kirisgyan” (Christian champion), as well as a thematic group of some military terms and names for military defences have been discussed too. On the basis of the precise analysis of the thematically grouped foreign terms used in the Ottoman source the author comes to the conclusion that the anonymous writer probably had at his disposal a non-Ottoman written source as a model.

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