ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3023 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3023 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 06 Apr 2005 From: Ursula Whitcher (no address) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked about a name appropriate for a female slave in the Ottoman sultan's harem. You particularly wanted to know where Ottoman slaves came from, whether their names were changed on enslavement, and what sorts of bynames they used, if any. 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. We've used various punctuation marks to represent these special characters; we'll explain what each symbol means the first time that we use it. Islamic law prohibits enslaving Muslims, so most Ottoman slaves had to come from outside the empire. The Ottoman empire was expanding and conquering new lands through the end of the sixteenth century. Thus, before 1600 most Ottoman slaves were newly conquered Christians from the Balkans and surrounding areas. The Ottomans also enslaved young boys from Christian villages within the empire, in a process known as . (Here we've used the comma <,> to represent a hook beneath the 's'.) During the seventeenth century the Ottomans abandoned the devs,irme and were forced to stop conquering territory; thenceforward the empire acquired most of its slaves from the Caucasus mountain regions and from Central Europe by trade with the Tatars. [1] Most of the members of the Ottoman harem were slaves. The first Ottoman sultans had both free wives and slave concubines. However, after the middle of the fifteenth century the sultans did not marry free women. Thus, beginning in the mid-fifteenth century the only free women in the harem were the valide sultan, mother of the current sultan, and the sultan's royal daughters. The valide sultan had been one of the slave concubines of the previous sultan. As the mother of the sultan, she enjoyed tremendous power and prestige. Many of the harem's activities centered around her court, and the sultan usually chose his concubines from among her retinue. [2] Other members of the harem acted as servants to the higher-ranking members: Ottoman accounts call a servant of this type a , which means 'female slave' or 'female subject of the sultan'. From the beginning of the seventeenth century, the harem hierarchy also included a level between the jariyes and the royal family and concubines; this intermediate level, called the or 'Abode of Good Fortune', consisted of high-ranking administrative staff. (Here we've used quotation marks <"> to represent an umlaut or pair of dots above the preceding letter.) A successful jariye could be promoted to an administrative office in the harem, could enter the sultan's family as a royal concubine and mother of one of his children, or could be freed in order to marry a high-ranking Ottoman man. [2] During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Ottoman slave concubines were usually given Persian names. Many of these names were types of birds or flowers. [3] Examples include: [4] Bu"lbu"l (nightingale) Hu"ma (mythical bird of paradise) Kumru (dove) Gu"lruh (rose-cheeked) Gu"lbahar (rose blossom) Gu"ls,ah (rose monarch) C,ic,ek (flower) Ottoman slaves also used names which incorporated royal titles, such as 'rose monarch' and 'Pasha-chieftain'. (Here we've used the closing parenthesis <)> to represent a small u over the preceding letter.) [4, 5] Female slaves in other parts of the Islamic world were given names with obvious literal meanings, too; for instance, slave girls in Andalusia were named after animals, plants, astronomical phenomena, precious materials, physical or moral qualities, and abstract ideas such as hope and beauty. [6] We may be able to suggest more Ottoman names based on flowers, birds, or royal titles; please let us know if you're interested in this possibility. We believe that slaves were not given typically Muslim names such as or . However, a freed slave might choose a Muslim name as a sign that she had converted to Islam. For instance, we found a manumitted slave in sixteenth-century Istanbul named . [5] Princesses, royal concubines, the valide sultan, and other high-ranking members of the Ottoman harem used titles (such as and ) following their given names. [7] We believe that harem members who did not have titles generally would have used a single given name. We do know that in certain formal contexts, the names of freed Ottoman female slaves were recorded using an Arabic-style patronymic, with the father's name following the word . Examples include and . [5, 11] The Qur'an states that freed slaves should be called by their fathers' names rather than the names of their masters. The name , which comes from the Arabic phrase <`Abd Allah> 'servant of Allah', may be a generic choice for someone whose father's name is unknown, or may signal that the child has converted to Islam. [8, 9, 10] A harem member who had been freed to marry a high-ranking member of the Ottoman establishment could have had her name recorded with a byname of this sort. If this possibility interests you, please let us know; we'll gladly suggest possible choices for your father's name. We hope this letter has been useful to you. If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to write to us again. In particular, we'd be happy to suggest more flower and bird names used by Ottoman concubines, or to give you the pronunciations of names we've already discussed. Juliana de Luna, Arval Benicoeur, and Talan Gwynek helped me to research and write this letter. For the Academy, Ursula Georges 28 March 2005 References: [1] Bernard Lewis, _Race and Slavery in the Middle East_, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), pp. 9, 11-12. [2] Leslie P. Peirce, _The Imperial Harem_, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, pp. 28-29, 132, 142-143. [3] Peirce, p. 35. [4] Peirce, p. 296. [5] Ursula Georges (alias Ursula Whitcher), "Sixteenth-Century Turkish Names," (WWW: Ursula Whitcher, 2002). http://www.s-gabriel.org/ursulageorges/onomastics/ottoman/ [6] Manuela Marin, in _Mujeres en al-A/ndalus_ . [7] cf. Peirce p. 144. [8] "Names according to Quran and Sunnah," (WWW: Muttaqun Online, 1998-2004). http://muttaqun.com/names.html [9] cf. "Hadiths related to names," (WWW: Quran.ca, accessed 2005). http://www.quran.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=Hadith&file=index&action=search&q=names&page=3 which says: Narrated Abdullah bin Umar: We used not to call Zaid bin Haritha the freed slave of Allah's Apostle except Zaid bin Muhammad till the Qur'anic Verse was revealed: "Call them (adopted sons) by (the names of) their fathers. That is more than just in the Sight of Allah." (33.5) [10] David Ayalon, "Names, Titles, and 'nisbas' of the Mamluuks," in _The Mamluuk Military Society_ (London: Variorum Reprints, 1979). [11] is a title meaning 'lady' or 'Ms.' (Ursula Georges, "Sixteenth-Century Turkish Names") - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval, Sept 2005: Clarified the author's name in note [2].