ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2936 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2936 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 26 Nov 2004 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if we could recommend something similar to that would be an appropriate name for a woman born in Izmir, Turkey, in 1480. You said that 'from the moon' is more important to you than , and wondered if 'woman from Aydin' would be a reasonable byname. You also asked about the given names , , and . Here is the information we have found. We were unable to find , , , , or used as feminine names in Turkey before modern times. [3,4,5] While our sources are by no means comprehensive, without clear evidence that any of these names were used in your period, we cannot recommend them. The byname is not correct in a Turkish name. It is almost correct for an Arabic name [6], but while the Turks borrowed Arabic words and given names into their language, we haven't found evidence that they used Arabic grammar. We have found no evidence of Turkish women with bynames based on place names, and only one example in a man's name. [2] If none of your choices were suitable, you asked if we could recommend other given names beginning with or . Here is what we have found. The following are names of wives and daughters of Ottoman sultans who ruled prior to 1603. [1] Name Pronunciation [9] ---------- ----------------- Ali^me \ah-lee-may\, where \ee\ is long in duration Asporc,a \ahs-poar-tchah\, with \oa\ as in Ayn-i \ey-nu*\, with \ey\ as in , and where \u*\ is the vowel you get by pronouncing the in with your lips positioned as if you were saying as in Ays,e \ey-shay\ Mahidevran \mah-hu*-day-vrahn\ Ma^l \maahl\, where \aah\ is long in duration Melek (twice) [7] \may-layk\ Mihrimah \mu*-hru*-mah\ Mihriban \mu*-hru*-bahn\ In this list, the ^ represents a circumflex above the preceding letter; the , represents a cedilla below it. These names have been transcribed according to the rules of modern Turkish; the original documents would have used a script based on Arabic. In Turkish, which syllable is stressed in a word can change the meaning of the word (much like English \PER-fect\ vs. \per-FECT\). Because stress in Turkish is not indicated in writing, we have no way to know how these names are stressed; our best recommendation is to find a modern Turkish speaker. Other Ottoman Turkish feminine names found in the 16th century include , , , and . [2] We also found a woman named , the slave of a sultan c.1650. [8] As we said earlier, the most common type of byname for a Turkish woman is one that identifies her as her father's daughter. We thought you might be interested in the masculine names , the son of a 16th century sultan, and a vizier to Suleyman I, who ruled from 1520-1566. [1,8] A name such as or is a fine choice for a late-period Turkish woman. We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this name was provided by Ursula Georges, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, and Gunnvor silfraharr. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 26 November 2004 -- References: [1] Ahmed Akgu"ndu"z, _Osmanli'da Harem_, Istanbul: Osmanli Aras,tirmalari Vakfi, 1995. [2] Ursula Georges, "Sixteenth-Century Turkish Names" (WWW: Self-published, 2002). http://www.doomchicken.net/~ursula/sca/onomastics/ottoman/ [3] "Turkish Names" (WWW: Mike Campbell, 1996-2004) http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/tur.html This site lists modern names, and has as a feminine name, meaning "moonlight", "like the moon", and "as beautiful as the moon". The site also has , but as a modern masculine name. Lacking evidence that these names were used in our period, we recommend that you choose another name. [4] Emily, "Re: Where did you see it?" (WWW: Mike Campbell, 1996-2004) http://www.behindthename.com/bb_gen/arcview.php?id=31661 is listed here as "a Turkish name from Byzantine times", but no support for this statement is provided. is the modern name of a river in Turkey and the custom of using river names as given names is generally modern, so without clear evidence that the was used in period, we can't recommend it. [5] [5] "Turkish Rivers" (WWW: Alternatif Raft, no date) http://www.alternatifraft.com/riverdes.html [6] If there were a place called in Arabic, then the locative byname would be in a man's name and in a woman's name. [7] We are not sure whether is a title or a name: the two examples we have are and , and in each of these cases could be either a title or a given name. You said that you thought meant 'king'. In modern Turkish means 'angel'; the word for 'king' is [11,12]. [8] Peirce, Leslie, _The Imperial Harem_, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, pp. 67, 144. [9] More precise pronunciations, using Kirshenbaum ASCII IPA, are as follows: [10] [ali:me] [asportSa] [ajnu-] [ajSe] [mahu-devran] [ma:l] [melek] [mu-hru-mah] [mu-hru-ban] [10] Blaheta, Don, "Representation of IPA with ASCII" (WWW: Blahedo.org) http://www.blahedo.org/ascii-ipa.html [11] Uzuner, Ozlem "Is it a HE or a SHE?: M Name - Meaning" (WWW: Turkish Culture.org, no date) http://www.turkishculture.org/lifestyles/Is%20it%20a%20HE%20or%20a%20SHE.html#M [12] _Redhouse Portable Dictionary: English-Turkish, Turkish-English_ (Istanbul: Redhouse Press, 1975) --------------- Annotation, written by Ursula and added by Aryanhwy, 1 Nov 2006: Until the twentieth century, Turkish was written in an Arabic script. The system of transliteration used here is based on modern Turkish, which uses certain special characters. In this letter, a comma represents a cedilla or small hook under the preceding letter, as in and a closing parenthesis represents a small shape over the preceding letter, as in . Furthermore, in this system the sound of the letter depends on whether or not it is dotted. Here stands for a dotted letter , and stands for the undotted letter. The carat ^ represents a circumflex above the preceding letter. In a record of charitable foundations from Istanbul in 1546, we found thirteen different women named . We also found two women using the compound name or . In the same record, we found five different men using the given name . Most women in this record are identified as their father's daughters using the word . or would be a lovely Ottoman Turkish name. [1] You also asked about names for a woman from the Turkish city of Aydin, which was named after the fourteenth-century prince , 'Mehmed Bey son of AydIn'. [2] Locative bynames, which identify a person by the place they are from, are rare in Ottoman records. However, a woman from Aydin named might have been identified in Turkish as . Court records sometimes described a plaintiff as being from a specific place; in this situation, might have been described as , "Melek from AydIn". [3,4] For the Academy, Ursula Georges 16 October 2006 [1] O"mer LutfI^ Barkan and Ekrem HakkI Ayverdi, istanbul Vakiflari TahrI^r Defteri (Istanbul: Baha Matbaasi, 1970) p. 448: AydIn Kethu"da b. Abdullah p. 471: AydIn b. Yusuf AydIn C,elebi AydIn Debba^g) AydIn Su^fI^ p. 458: Melek binti Abdullah Melek binti Emir Melek binti ishak Melek binti Karago"z Melek binti Mehmed Melek Ha^tu^n Melek Ha^tu^n binti Abdullah Melek Ha^tu^n binti Ahmed Melek Ha^tu^n binti Bahs,a&yI^s, Melek Ha^tu^n binti Su"leyman Melek Ha^tu^n bint'u"l-Ha^c Sina&n Melekpas,a binti S,eyh ibrahim Melek Pas,a p. 476: Melek Bola Melek KarI [2] F. Taeschner, "Aydin," Encyclopaedia of Islam. (WWW: Brill Online, 2006) http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_SIM-0901 [3] Private communication from Samuel White. [4] Ursula Georges, "Sixteenth-Century Turkish Names" (WWW: privately published, 2002). http://www.doomchicken.net/~ursula/sca/onomastics/ottoman/ Full data gives a number of women identified as from a specific city or town. The data also includes one locative byname, .