Harley MS 5487

This volume contains the Tuhfe-yi Şahidi, a well-known versified Persian-Ottoman Turkish vocabulary composed in 920 AH (1514-15 CE) by Şahidi, who died in 957 AH (1550-51 CE).

Mevlana Şahidi, or Şahidi Dede, whose given name was İbrahim, was born in Muğla in the province of Menteşe and entered, like his father Hodayi Dede, the Mevlevi order. He left, apart from the current work, a treatise on prosody and a poetical expansion of the Mesnevi of 600 lines entitled Gulshan-i Tavḥīd.

The current work is an incomplete copy of the original text. It lacks the latter part of the prologue, from the 12th beyt; the first nine kıt'alar; and the first four beyitler of the tenth. It has a few English glosses, apparently from the 17th century CE.

There is a note in the handwriting of Sulaymān al-Aswad (Salomon Negri) in Latin dated 1013 AH (1604 AH), although this date is not found elsewhere in the text.

The manuscript was likely copied in the 17th century CE.