Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). Written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet, it borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Persian and Arabic (through Persian). Ottoman Turkish was largely unintelligible to rural Turks, who continued to use ("raw/vulgar Turkish"; compare Vulgar Latin and Demotic Greek), which used far fewer foreign loanwords and is the basis of the modern standard.
Terms for the language included lisân-ı Türkî or zebân-ı Türkî ("Turkish language"), or, alternatively during the Ottoman era, lisân-ı Rûm or zebân-ı Rûm ("the language of Rum"). The Tanzimât era (1839–1876) saw the application of the term "Ottoman" when referring to the language ( or ). Modern Turkish uses the same terms when referring to the language of that era ( and ). More generically, the Turkish language was called or "Turkish".
History Historically, Ottoman Turkish was transformed in three eras:
(Old Ottoman Turkish): the version of Ottoman Turkish used until the 16th century. It was almost identical with the Turkish used by Seljuk empire and Anatolian beyliks and was often regarded as part of (Old Anatolian Turkish). (Middle Ottoman Turkish) or (Classical Ottoman Turkish): the language of poetry and administration from the 16th century until Tanzimat. (New Ottoman Turkish): the version shaped from the 1850s to the 20th century under the influence of journalism and Western-oriented literature.
Ottoman Turkish was developed and extensively promoted as an imperial and court language during the reign of Mehmed II, with whose encouragement the language became heavily Persianised.
Language reform
In 1928, following the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, widespread language reforms (a part in the greater framework of Atatürk's reforms) instituted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk saw the replacement of many Persian and Arabic origin loanwords in the language with their Turkish equivalents. One of the main supporters of the reform was the Turkish nationalist Ziya Gökalp. It also saw the replacement of the Perso-Arabic script with the extended Latin alphabet. The changes were meant to encourage the growth of a new variety of written Turkish that more closely reflected the spoken vernacular and to foster a new variety of spoken Turkish that reinforced Turkey's new national identity as being a post-Ottoman state.
See the list of replaced loanwords in Turkish for more examples of Ottoman Turkish words and their modern Turkish counterparts. Five examples of Arabic loanwords are found below with their Turkic-derived synonyms, the Arabic loanwords are still used alongside the Turkic words in Modern Turkish.
English Ottoman Modern Turkish duty positive hardship province war
Legacy Historically speaking, Ottoman Turkish is the predecessor of modern Turkish. However, the standard Turkish of today is essentially (Turkish of Turkey) as written in the Latin alphabet and with an abundance of neologisms added, which means there are now far fewer loan words from other languages, and Ottoman Turkish was not instantly transformed into the Turkish of today. At first, it was only the script that was changed, and while some households continued to use the Arabic system in private, most of the Turkish population was illiterate at the time, making the switch to the Latin alphabet much easier. Then, loan words were taken out, and new words fitting the growing amount of technology were introduced. Until the 1960s, Ottoman Turkish was at least partially intelligible with the Turkish of that day. One major difference between Ottoman Turkish and modern Turkish is the latter's abandonment of compound word formation according to Arabic and Persian grammar rules. The usage of such phrases still exists in modern Turkish but only to a very limited extent and usually in specialist contexts; for example, the Persian-derived genitive construction () (which reads literally as "the preordaining of the divine" and translates as "divine dispensation" or "destiny") is used, as opposed to the normative modern Turkish construction, (literally, "divine preordaining").
In 2014, Turkey's Education Council decided that Ottoman Turkish should be taught in Islamic high schools and as an elective in other schools, a decision backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who said the language should be taught in schools so younger generations do not lose touch with their cultural heritage.
Writing system
Most Ottoman Turkish was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet (), a variant of the Perso-Arabic script. The Armenian, Greek and Rashi script of Hebrew were sometimes used by Armenians, Greeks and Jews. (See Karamanli Turkish, a dialect of Ottoman written in the Greek script; Armeno-Turkish alphabet)
Grammar
The actual grammar of Ottoman Turkish is not different from the grammar of modern Turkish. The focus of this section is on the Ottoman orthography; the conventions surrounding how the orthography interacted and dealt with grammatical morphemes related to conjugations, cases, pronouns, etc.
Cases Nominative and Indefinite accusative/objective: -∅, no suffix. 'the lake' 'a lake', 'soup', 'night'; 'he/she brought a rabbit'. Genitive: suffix . 'of the pasha'; 'of the book'. Definite accusative: suffix : 'he/she brought the rabbit'. The variant suffix does not occur in Ottoman Turkish orthography (unlike in Modern Turkish), although it's pronounced with the vowel harmony. Thus, 'the lake' vs. Modern Turkish . Dative: suffix : 'to the house'. Locative: suffix : 'at school', 'in (the/a) cage', 'at a/the start', 'in town'. The variant suffix used in Modern Turkish (, ) does not occur. Ablative: suffix : 'from the man'. Instrumental: suffix or postposition . Generally not counted as a grammatical case in modern grammars.
The table below lists nouns with a variety of phonological features that come into play when taking case suffixes; it includes a typical singular and plural noun, containing back and front vowels, words that end with the letter ( or ) (back and front vowels), words that end in a () sound, and words that end in either or (). These words are to serve as references, to observe orthographic conventions:
Which vowels are written using the 4 letters: , , , and , and which are not. When words or morphemes are connected to each other, and when they are separated with the use of Zero-width non-joiner. When a final letter is softened when followed by a vowel sound, and when not; both in Ottoman orthography and in modern Latin orthography. When harmony of vowel roundness exists in spoken pronunciation and modern Latin orthography, but not in Ottoman orthography. When the letters () and () are used.
+Declension of nouns for case Case Morpheme Nom — ok oklar ev evler kurt çartak ipek para pide köprü Acc oku okları evi evleri kurdu çartağı ipeği parayı pideyi köprüyü -ı -i -u -ü Dat oka oklara eve evlere kurda çartağa ipeğe paraya pideye köprüye -a -e Loc okta oklarda evde evlerde kurt'ta çartakta ipekte parada pidede köprüde -da -de -ta -te Abl oktan oklardan evden evlerden kurttan çartaktan ipekten paradan pideden köprüden -dan -den -tan -ten Gen okun okların evin evlerin kurdun çartağın ipeğin paranın pidenin köprünün -ın -in -un -ün Inst okla oklarla evle evlerle kurtla çartakla ipekle parayla pideyle köprüyle -la -le -lu -lü
Possessives
Table below shows the suffixes for creating possessed nouns. Each of these possessed nouns, in turn, take case suffixes as shown above.
+ Declension of nouns for possession Person Morpheme — — ok oklar ev evler kurt çartak ipek para pide köprü 1st Person Sg. okum oklarım evim evlerim kurdum çartağım ipeğim param pidem köprüm -m -ım -im -um -üm 2nd Person Sg. okun okların evin evlerin kurdun çartağın ipeğin paran piden köprün -n -ın -in -un -ün 3rd Person Sg. oku okları evi evleri kurdu çartağı ipeği parası pidesi köprüsü -(s)ı -(s)i -(s)u -(s)ü 1st Person Pl. okumuz oklarımız evimiz evlerimiz kurdumuz çartağımız ipeğimiz paramız pidemiz köprümüz -(ı)mız -(i)miz -(u)muz -(ü)müz 2nd Person Pl. okunuz oklarınız eviniz evleriniz kurdunuz çartağınız ipeğiniz paranız pideniz köprünüz -(ı)nız -(i)niz -(u)nuz -(ü)nüz 3rd Person Pl. okları okları evleri evleri kurtları çartakleri ipekleri paraları pideleri köprüleri -ları -leri
For third person (singular and plural) possessed nouns, that end in a vowel, when it comes to taking case suffixes, a letter () comes after the possessive suffix. For singular endings, the final vowel ( or ) is removed in all instances. For plural endings, if the letter succeeding the additional () is a vowel, the final vowel ( or ) is kept; otherwise it is removed (note the respective examples for and ).
Nom Acc Dat Loc Abl Gen his/her book kitabı kitabını kitabına kitabında kitabından kitabının his/her books kitapları kitaplarını kitaplarına kitaplarında kitaplarından kitaplarının his/her maternal aunt teyzesi teyzesini teyzesine teyzesinde teyzesinden teyzesinin his/her maternal aunts teyzeleri teyzelerini teyzelerine teyzelerinde teyzelerinden teyzelerinin
Verbs
Below table shows the positive conjugation for two sample verbs (to open) and (to be loved). The first verb is the active verb, and the other has been modified to form a passive verb. The first contains back vowels, the second front vowels; both containing non-rounded vowels (which also impacts pronunciation and modern Latin orthography). Online copies from Google_Books: (PDF can be accessed at: archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.31137)
rowspan=2 açmak'to open' sevilmek'to be loved' Singular Plural Singular Plural rowspan=15 Present Imperfectam/is/are openingam/is/are being loved 1 açıyorum açıyoruz seviliyorum seviliyoruz 2 açıyorsun açıyorsunuz seviliyorsun seviliyorsunuz 3 açıyor açıyorlar seviliyor seviliyorlar Past Imperfectwas/were openingwas/were being loved 1 açıyordum açıyorduk seviliyordum seviliyorduk 2 açıyordun açıyordunuz seviliyordun seviliyordunuz 3 açıyordu açıyordular seviliyordu seviliyordular Present Aoristshall habitually openshall habitually be loved 1 açarım açarız sevilirim seviliriz 2 açarsın açarsınız sevilirsin sevilirsiniz 3 açar açarlar sevilir sevilirler Past Perfectopenedwas loved 1 açtım açtık sevildim sevildik 2 açtın açtınız sevildin sevildiniz 3 açtı açtılar sevildi sevildiler Futurewill openwill be loved 1 açacağım açacağız sevileceğim sevileceğiz 2 açacaksın açacaksınız sevileceksin sevileceksiniz 3 açacak açacaklar sevilecek sevilecekler rowspan=4 Perfecthave/has opened, I believewas/were loved, I believe 1 açmışım açmışız sevilmişim sevilmişiz 2 açmışsın açmışsınız sevilmişsin sevilmişsiniz 3 açmış açmışlar sevilmiş sevilmişler açmışdır sevilmişdir rowspan=6 Aoristmust openmust be loved 1 açmalıyım açmalıyız sevilmeliyim sevilmeliyiz 2 açmalısın açmalısınız sevilmelisin sevilmelisiniz 3 açmalı açmalılar sevilmeli sevilmeliler Pastmust've openmust've been loved 1 açmalıydım açmalıydık sevilmeliydim sevilmeliydik 2 açmalıydın açmalıydınız sevilmeliydin sevilmeliydiniz 3 açmalıydı açmalıydılar sevilmeliydi sevilmeliydiler rowspan=4 Presentthat may openthat may be loved 1 açayım açayız sevileyim sevileyiz açalım sevilelim 2 açasın açasınız sevilesin sevilesiniz 3 aça açalar sevile sevileler rowspan=6 Aoristif openif be loved 1 açsam açsak sevilsem sevilsek 2 açsan açsanız sevilsen sevilseniz 3 açsa açsalar sevilse sevilseler Pastif openedif were loved 1 açsaydım açsaydık sevilseydim sevilseydik 2 açsaydın açsaydınız sevilseydin sevilseydiniz 3 açsaydı açsaydılar sevilseydi sevilseydiler Imperative 1 — açalım — sevilelim 2 aç açınız sevil seviliniz açın sevilin 3 açsın açsınlar sevilsin sevilsinler
Negation and complex verbs