Old Anatolian Turkish,[a] also referred to as Old Anatolian Turkic[2][3][4] (Turkish: Eski Anadolu Türkçesi, Perso-Arabic script: اسکی انادولو تورکچهسی[b]), was the form of the Turkish language spoken in Anatolia from the 11th to 15th centuries. It developed into Early Ottoman Turkish. It was written in the Perso-Arabic script. Unlike in later Ottoman Turkish, short-vowel diacritics were used.[5]
Old Anatolian Turkish | |
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Old Anatolian Turkic | |
تُركجَ | |
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Native to | Anatolia |
Era | Emerged in Anatolia late 11th century. Developed into Early Ottoman Turkish and Ajem-Turkic c. 15th century[1] |
Turkic
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Ottoman Turkish alphabet augmented with ḥarakāt[1] | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
1ca Old Anatolian Turkish | |
Glottolog | None |
It had no official status until 1277, when Mehmet I of Karaman declared a firman in an attempt[6] to break the dominance of Persian:[7]
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It has been erroneously assumed that the Old Anatolian Turkish literary language was created in Anatolia and that its authors transformed a primitive language into a literary medium by submitting themselves to Persian influence.[by whom?] In reality, the Oghuz Turks who came to Anatolia brought their own written language, literary traditions and models from Khwarezm and Transoxiana.[9]
The Ajem Turkic language descended from Old Anatolian Turkish. Ajem Turkic started to form its shape in the Aq Qoyunlu, Qara Qoyunlu eras, and, especially, the Safavid era.[10]
Following texts are excerpts of the Qabus-nama taken from Turan Fikret's Old Anatolian Turkish: Syntactic Structure (1996):[11]
Old Anatolian Turkish | Ottoman Turkish (Kamus-ı Türkî spelling) |
Modern Turkish | English |
---|---|---|---|
گُزلٔر | كوزلر | gözler | eyes |
دَدَ | دده | dede | grandfather |
كُچُك | كوچك | küçük | little |
Letter | Modern Turkish | Letter | Modern Turkish |
---|---|---|---|
ا | a, e, i | ص | s |
ب | b | ض | d |
پ | p | ط | t |
ت | t | ظ | z |
ث | s | ع | a |
ج | c | غ | ğ, g |
چ | ç | ف | f |
ح | h | ق | k |
خ | h | ك | k |
د | d | ل | l |
ذ | d, z | م | m |
ر | r | ن | n |
ز | z | و | o, ö, u, ü, v |
ژ | j | ه | h |
س | s | لا | la, le |
ش | ş | ى | i, y, ı |
His ally the Qaramanid Muhammad (r. 660–77/1261–78) did capture Konya in 675/1276 and attempted to replace Persian with Turkish as the official government language.
Persian language and culture were actually so popular and dominant in this period that in the late 14th century, Moḥammad (Meḥmed) Bey, the founder and the governing head of the Qaramanids, published an official edict to end this supremacy, saying that: "The Turkish language should be spoken in courts, palaces, and at official institutions from now on!"