Or 16220

This volume contains a Persian-Ottoman Turkish dictionary by Ni‘metullah ibn-i Ahmed ibn-i Kadi Mübarek er-Rumi (died 969 AH/1561-2 CE), known as Sofyalı Ni‘metullah Efendi.

Ni‘metullah was born in Sofia and gained some repute as an enameller. He became acquainted with Persian poetry and literature after moving to Istanbul and joining the Nakşibendi tarikat. He then decided to share this knowledge through his Persian-Ottoman dictionary, which he completed in 947 AH/1541 CE. He probably did so ‘at the instigation and with the assistance’ of the famous şeyhülislâm Kemalpaşazade (died 940 AH/1533 CE) (Berthels, ‘Niʿmat Allāh’).

The text is divided into three parts, entitled kısımlar:

ff 2v-22r: Verbs in alphabetical order.

22r-30v: Rules of Persian grammar explained in Persian.

30v-259r: Nouns in alphabetical order. Here, the words are arranged in bablar according to their initial letter and within each bab in three sections according to the initial vowel of the word.

The poetical quotations are primarily taken from the Persian glossary of Şems-i Fahri, compiled in 745 AH (1344-45 CE) and entitled Mi‘yār-i Jamālī. Ni‘metullah relied on at least five other sources, as well as providing a great deal of his own material. From these additions, the notes on dialect and his ethnographical observations are of great value (see Berthels, ‘Niʿmat Allāh’).

Uncommonly in the present manuscript, the catchword on many versos consists not of an entire word but of an initial letter, or sometimes two letters, only. Throughout the volume a number of corrections have been made in small letters by a later hand.

The colophon on f 259r states that the work was copied by Molla Hüsam el-Manisavi (of Manisa, Turkey) on 7 Cemaziyülahır 996 AH/30 March 1588 CE.