Nil Ö Palabıyık | Queen Mary, University of London (original) (raw)
Articles in peer-reviewed journals by Nil Ö Palabıyık
The article brings to life the now forgotten Deusing, a protégé of Golius in 1630s in Leiden who ... more The article brings to life the now forgotten Deusing, a protégé of Golius in 1630s in Leiden who made substantial contributions to the study of oriental languages in Western Europe. He was influential in putting together the expanded edition of Erpenius’s Arabic grammar and the publication of the first Persian grammar in Europe. Yet his most enduring and profound legacy lies in the Turkish and Persian dictionaries he compiled, which, this piece argues, formed the basis of Golius’s dictionaries.
From the ‘Introduction to the Special Issue on: The Reception of the Church Fathers and Early Chu... more From the ‘Introduction to the Special Issue on: The Reception of the Church Fathers and Early Church Historians in the Renaissance and the Reformation, c. 1470–1650’ by Andreas Ammann and Sam Kennerley.
‘Nil Palabıyık’s article paints in vivid colours the scholarly and political background to a debate about Cyril of Alexandria held in Istanbul in 1627, which led to the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Ottoman Empire. After a series of philo-Catholic patriarchs in the early seventeenth century, some clergy in Istanbul cultivated links with Protestant powers to counteract the growing influence of the Jesuits and the Propaganda fide. A key part of this programme was the establishment of a Greek press in London under the supervision of the Orthodox monk Nicholas Metaxas. As Palabıyık shows, Metaxas’s publication of a series of Greek tracts on the procession of the Holy Spirit, and the consequent import of these books into the Ottoman Empire with English assistance the following year, was the ultimate cause of the fateful debate of 1627. As well as drawing attention to neglected themes like early modern Greek interpretations of the Greek Church Fathers, this article benefits from a series of impressive discoveries, not least a copy of Gennadios Scholarios’s tract on the procession of the Holy Spirit with corrections in the hand of this fifteenth-century patriarch, which Palabıyık demonstrates was used as the base for the 1626 edition.’
Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2019
Justus Raphelengius, a Leiden printer and orientalist scholar, translated into Latin a sixteenth-... more Justus Raphelengius, a Leiden printer and orientalist scholar, translated into Latin a sixteenth-century manuscript compilation of Turkish folk tales associated with the famous Anatolian comic figure Nasreddin Hoca. This article considers the role of Raphelengius’s translation within the framework of the manuscript circula- tion and print production of Nasreddin Hoca tales in Europe from the first dated manuscript to twentieth-century printed editions. Raphelengius’s editorial choices for his intended publication, the style of his Latin translation, and his excision of bawdy or sacrilegious passages from the original text come under scrutiny.
Between August 1607 and October 1608, the humanist scholar Joseph Scaliger and the physician Étie... more Between August 1607 and October 1608, the humanist scholar Joseph Scaliger and the physician Étienne Hubert exchanged five letters revealing the close collaboration between Scaliger in Leiden, and Hubert and Isaac Casaubon in Paris in studying Oriental texts. This paper translates and discusses the last letter from Hubert to Scaliger in detail, identifies the authors, texts, editions and manuscripts alluded to, and explains the passages quoted and foreign-language words mentioned in the letter. Understanding the references in Hubert’s letter is fundamental to exploring the nature and scope of Oriental learning in early seventeenth century Europe. It emerges from this new reading of the letter and other related primary materials that knowledge of Turkish was considered essential for Oriental studies, and Hubert and Scaliger were in search of native speakers who could help them read Arabic and Persian books which were procured from the Ottoman Empire and, therefore, featured Turkish explications.
The Library: Transactions of the Bibliographical Society
The paper studies the editing process of Patriarch Cyril Lucaris’s Against the Jews, a tract prin... more The paper studies the editing process of Patriarch Cyril Lucaris’s Against the Jews, a tract printed in Istanbul in 1627 by Nikodemos Metaxas. The editing history of the treatise reveals a curious case of self-censorship to promote religious tolerance and moderation in which the editor removed derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad. Metaxas’s editorial interference determined the fate of the textual transmission of this important theological work. The official Ottoman stance towards non-Muslim publishing in the Empire is manifested through the court trial of Metaxas.
Studies in Ottoman Science 16.2, 2015
Blog posts by Nil Ö Palabıyık
Historic editions from the Elsevier Heritage Collection offer a rare glimpse into the early moder... more Historic editions from the Elsevier Heritage Collection offer a rare glimpse into the early modern knowledge of the East and oriental languages.
Conference papers by Nil Ö Palabıyık
Learning Turkish in seventeenth-century Europe: ‘the rules, the teachers and the books’ The curr... more Learning Turkish in seventeenth-century Europe: ‘the rules, the teachers and the books’
The current complex, even fraught, relations between Europe and Turkey are not new. Ever since the fall of Constantinople (1453) and the siege of Vienna (1529) Turkey has been a looming presence on Europe’s eastern horizon. By the seventeenth century, as the political interests of European powers expanded into the Levant, that relationship became intense: it was a potent mixture of a clash of civilisations and commercial rivalry. The paper will explore this intriguing relationship through the neglected medium of printed books produced in Europe for European consumption in the seventeenth century –– Turkish language aids and reference works, including lexica, grammars and phrasebooks. By tracing the circumstances of their production, their circulation, provenance, previous owners, use and reception, the paper will seek to contribute to a better understanding of history of western knowledge of, and attitudes towards the Ottoman Empire at a formative period in the history of both regions.
Early modern Europe witnessed a burgeoning interest in Turkish culture and history. As a result of the social, political and economic developments such as the increase of trade with the Ottoman Empire, the establishment of European embassies in Constantinople and a growth in the number of travellers to the East, this was an era in which a significant Turkish influence in the arts, literature, fashion and music can be traced. This influence that later came to be termed 'turquerie' was visible in various forms from costume books with detailed illustrations of Turkish attire, and portraits of noblemen and women in oriental silks and furs to theatrical performances depicting the battles between Tamerlane and Sultan Beyazid. A much less explored area remains the study of Turkish for scholarly purposes.
Turkish language aids and reference works (lexica, thesauri, grammars and phrasebooks) proliferated in the seventeenth century in response to the increasing demand from individuals and groups who cultivated a deeper appreciation of the history and culture of the region, and wished to achieve proficiency in the Turkish language. The paper will discuss the learning of Turkish through ‘the rules, the teachers and the books’, the three essential components of learning oriental languages, as set out by Thomas Erpenius in his oratio delivered in Leiden in 1620, starting with the first printed Turkish grammar, Hieronymus Megiser’s Institutiones linguae Turcicae (Leipzig, 1612) and building up to François à Mesgnien Meninski’s ground-breaking Thesaurus linguarum orientalium (Vienna, 1680).
L’apprentissage du turc dans l’Europe du dix-septième siècle: ‘règles, professeurs et livres’.
La complexité actuelle, voire la tension, des relations entre l’Europe et la Turquie ne date pas d’hier. Depuis la chute de Constantinople (1453) et le siège de Vienne (1529), la Turquie forme une présence inquiétante à l’est de l’Europe. Au XVIIème siècle, alors que les intérêts politiques des puissances européennes s’étendent au Levant, ces relations s’intensifient, à la fois conflits de civilisations et rivalités commerciales. Cette communication explore ces relations fascinantes par le biais des livres imprimés produits en Europe pour le marché européen au dix-septième siècle, en particulier des supports pédagogiques et ouvrages de référence pour l’apprentissage du turc, y compris les lexiques, grammaires, et recueils d’expression. En retraçant les circonstances de leur production, de leur circulation et provenance, de leur usage et réception, ainsi que leurs propriétaires, cette communication contribue ainsi à la meilleure compréhension historique du savoir occidental sur l’Empire Ottoman, et des manières dont ce dernier fut perçu en Europe, ce à une époque cruciale dans l’histoire de ces deux régions.
L’histoire et la culture turques firent l’objet d’un intérêt grandissant dans l’Europe des temps modernes. Des influences turques se ressentent de manière non-négligeable dans les arts, la littérature, la mode et la musique de cette période, à la suite de dévelopements sociaux, économiques et politiques, tels que le commerce grandissant avec l’Empire Ottoman, l’établissement d’ambassades européennes à Constantinople, et le nombre croissant de voyageurs en Orient. Cette influence, à laquelle on donnera plus tard le nom de ‘turquerie’, se manifeste de multiples façons: dans les illustrés de mode et leurs dessins précis de costumes turcs, dans les portraits de nobles, hommes et femmes, habillés de soie orientale et de fourrures, ainsi que dans les performances théâtrales mettant en scène les batailles entre Tamerlane et le sultan Beyazid.
L’étude érudite de la langue turque reste quant à elle un domaine peu exploré.
Les supports pédagogiques et ouvrages de référence pour l’apprentissage du turc (lexiques, thésaurus, grammaires, et recueils d’expression) se multiplient au XVIIème siècle, en réponse à une demande croissante de la part de groupes et individus cultivant une appréciation approfondie de l’histoire et de la culture de cette région, et désirant parler couramment la langue.
Prenant pour point de départ la première grammaire turque imprimée, l’Institutiones linguae Turcicae de Hieronymus Megiser (Leipzig, 1612), et concluant avec les innovations de François à Mesgnien Meninski dans son Thesaurus linguarum orientalium (Vienne, 1680), cette communication traite de l’apprentissage du turc à travers ‘les règles, professeurs, et livres’, les trois piliers de l’apprentissage des langues orientales selon Thomas Erpenius dans son oratio à Leiden en 1620.
The Beginnings of Printing in the Ottoman Capital: Book Production and Circulation in Early Moder... more The Beginnings of Printing in the Ottoman Capital: Book Production and Circulation in Early Modern Constantinople
The talk will focus on the appearance of the printed book in the city after the fall of the Byzantine Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, which coincided with the establishment of Gutenberg’s press, and before the founding of the first ‘official’ Ottoman press in 1727. The reasons behind the late adoption of the printing technology among the Muslim communities of the Ottoman Empire will be discussed and incunabula printing, book production and the first non-Muslim presses run by Jewish, Armenian and Greek publishers in Constantinople between 1500 and 1700 will be examined. Relevant early printed copies from the British Library Rare Book Collection will be brought to the audience’s attention.
The Apparition of the Printed Word in the Ottoman Capital: Book Production and Circulation in Con... more The Apparition of the Printed Word in the Ottoman Capital: Book Production and Circulation in Constantinople, 1453-1729
Printing and circulation of printed texts in the Mediterranean have become central to the study of the history of the book in recent years. Despite the substantial research on Ottoman printing in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and in different locales, the beginnings of printing in Constantinople and the Ottoman practices concerning the circulation of printed books in the early modern period is an area that remains largely unexplored. This paper examines the appearance of the printed book in Constantinople from the fall of the Byzantine capital city to the Ottomans in 1453, which coincided with the establishment of Gutenberg’s press, to the founding of the first ‘official’ Ottoman press in 1729, which was not only sanctioned but also supported by the Sultan. The paper investigates incunabula printing, book production and the first non-Muslim presses run by Jewish, Armenian and Greek publishers in Constantinople making use of unpublished archival material. The circulation of printed books in the city will also be examined placing particular focus on the material aspects of the art of printing and the trade of books.
Biblia Arabica blog by Nil Ö Palabıyık
The article brings to life the now forgotten Deusing, a protégé of Golius in 1630s in Leiden who ... more The article brings to life the now forgotten Deusing, a protégé of Golius in 1630s in Leiden who made substantial contributions to the study of oriental languages in Western Europe. He was influential in putting together the expanded edition of Erpenius’s Arabic grammar and the publication of the first Persian grammar in Europe. Yet his most enduring and profound legacy lies in the Turkish and Persian dictionaries he compiled, which, this piece argues, formed the basis of Golius’s dictionaries.
From the ‘Introduction to the Special Issue on: The Reception of the Church Fathers and Early Chu... more From the ‘Introduction to the Special Issue on: The Reception of the Church Fathers and Early Church Historians in the Renaissance and the Reformation, c. 1470–1650’ by Andreas Ammann and Sam Kennerley.
‘Nil Palabıyık’s article paints in vivid colours the scholarly and political background to a debate about Cyril of Alexandria held in Istanbul in 1627, which led to the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Ottoman Empire. After a series of philo-Catholic patriarchs in the early seventeenth century, some clergy in Istanbul cultivated links with Protestant powers to counteract the growing influence of the Jesuits and the Propaganda fide. A key part of this programme was the establishment of a Greek press in London under the supervision of the Orthodox monk Nicholas Metaxas. As Palabıyık shows, Metaxas’s publication of a series of Greek tracts on the procession of the Holy Spirit, and the consequent import of these books into the Ottoman Empire with English assistance the following year, was the ultimate cause of the fateful debate of 1627. As well as drawing attention to neglected themes like early modern Greek interpretations of the Greek Church Fathers, this article benefits from a series of impressive discoveries, not least a copy of Gennadios Scholarios’s tract on the procession of the Holy Spirit with corrections in the hand of this fifteenth-century patriarch, which Palabıyık demonstrates was used as the base for the 1626 edition.’
Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2019
Justus Raphelengius, a Leiden printer and orientalist scholar, translated into Latin a sixteenth-... more Justus Raphelengius, a Leiden printer and orientalist scholar, translated into Latin a sixteenth-century manuscript compilation of Turkish folk tales associated with the famous Anatolian comic figure Nasreddin Hoca. This article considers the role of Raphelengius’s translation within the framework of the manuscript circula- tion and print production of Nasreddin Hoca tales in Europe from the first dated manuscript to twentieth-century printed editions. Raphelengius’s editorial choices for his intended publication, the style of his Latin translation, and his excision of bawdy or sacrilegious passages from the original text come under scrutiny.
Between August 1607 and October 1608, the humanist scholar Joseph Scaliger and the physician Étie... more Between August 1607 and October 1608, the humanist scholar Joseph Scaliger and the physician Étienne Hubert exchanged five letters revealing the close collaboration between Scaliger in Leiden, and Hubert and Isaac Casaubon in Paris in studying Oriental texts. This paper translates and discusses the last letter from Hubert to Scaliger in detail, identifies the authors, texts, editions and manuscripts alluded to, and explains the passages quoted and foreign-language words mentioned in the letter. Understanding the references in Hubert’s letter is fundamental to exploring the nature and scope of Oriental learning in early seventeenth century Europe. It emerges from this new reading of the letter and other related primary materials that knowledge of Turkish was considered essential for Oriental studies, and Hubert and Scaliger were in search of native speakers who could help them read Arabic and Persian books which were procured from the Ottoman Empire and, therefore, featured Turkish explications.
The Library: Transactions of the Bibliographical Society
The paper studies the editing process of Patriarch Cyril Lucaris’s Against the Jews, a tract prin... more The paper studies the editing process of Patriarch Cyril Lucaris’s Against the Jews, a tract printed in Istanbul in 1627 by Nikodemos Metaxas. The editing history of the treatise reveals a curious case of self-censorship to promote religious tolerance and moderation in which the editor removed derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad. Metaxas’s editorial interference determined the fate of the textual transmission of this important theological work. The official Ottoman stance towards non-Muslim publishing in the Empire is manifested through the court trial of Metaxas.
Studies in Ottoman Science 16.2, 2015
Historic editions from the Elsevier Heritage Collection offer a rare glimpse into the early moder... more Historic editions from the Elsevier Heritage Collection offer a rare glimpse into the early modern knowledge of the East and oriental languages.
Learning Turkish in seventeenth-century Europe: ‘the rules, the teachers and the books’ The curr... more Learning Turkish in seventeenth-century Europe: ‘the rules, the teachers and the books’
The current complex, even fraught, relations between Europe and Turkey are not new. Ever since the fall of Constantinople (1453) and the siege of Vienna (1529) Turkey has been a looming presence on Europe’s eastern horizon. By the seventeenth century, as the political interests of European powers expanded into the Levant, that relationship became intense: it was a potent mixture of a clash of civilisations and commercial rivalry. The paper will explore this intriguing relationship through the neglected medium of printed books produced in Europe for European consumption in the seventeenth century –– Turkish language aids and reference works, including lexica, grammars and phrasebooks. By tracing the circumstances of their production, their circulation, provenance, previous owners, use and reception, the paper will seek to contribute to a better understanding of history of western knowledge of, and attitudes towards the Ottoman Empire at a formative period in the history of both regions.
Early modern Europe witnessed a burgeoning interest in Turkish culture and history. As a result of the social, political and economic developments such as the increase of trade with the Ottoman Empire, the establishment of European embassies in Constantinople and a growth in the number of travellers to the East, this was an era in which a significant Turkish influence in the arts, literature, fashion and music can be traced. This influence that later came to be termed 'turquerie' was visible in various forms from costume books with detailed illustrations of Turkish attire, and portraits of noblemen and women in oriental silks and furs to theatrical performances depicting the battles between Tamerlane and Sultan Beyazid. A much less explored area remains the study of Turkish for scholarly purposes.
Turkish language aids and reference works (lexica, thesauri, grammars and phrasebooks) proliferated in the seventeenth century in response to the increasing demand from individuals and groups who cultivated a deeper appreciation of the history and culture of the region, and wished to achieve proficiency in the Turkish language. The paper will discuss the learning of Turkish through ‘the rules, the teachers and the books’, the three essential components of learning oriental languages, as set out by Thomas Erpenius in his oratio delivered in Leiden in 1620, starting with the first printed Turkish grammar, Hieronymus Megiser’s Institutiones linguae Turcicae (Leipzig, 1612) and building up to François à Mesgnien Meninski’s ground-breaking Thesaurus linguarum orientalium (Vienna, 1680).
L’apprentissage du turc dans l’Europe du dix-septième siècle: ‘règles, professeurs et livres’.
La complexité actuelle, voire la tension, des relations entre l’Europe et la Turquie ne date pas d’hier. Depuis la chute de Constantinople (1453) et le siège de Vienne (1529), la Turquie forme une présence inquiétante à l’est de l’Europe. Au XVIIème siècle, alors que les intérêts politiques des puissances européennes s’étendent au Levant, ces relations s’intensifient, à la fois conflits de civilisations et rivalités commerciales. Cette communication explore ces relations fascinantes par le biais des livres imprimés produits en Europe pour le marché européen au dix-septième siècle, en particulier des supports pédagogiques et ouvrages de référence pour l’apprentissage du turc, y compris les lexiques, grammaires, et recueils d’expression. En retraçant les circonstances de leur production, de leur circulation et provenance, de leur usage et réception, ainsi que leurs propriétaires, cette communication contribue ainsi à la meilleure compréhension historique du savoir occidental sur l’Empire Ottoman, et des manières dont ce dernier fut perçu en Europe, ce à une époque cruciale dans l’histoire de ces deux régions.
L’histoire et la culture turques firent l’objet d’un intérêt grandissant dans l’Europe des temps modernes. Des influences turques se ressentent de manière non-négligeable dans les arts, la littérature, la mode et la musique de cette période, à la suite de dévelopements sociaux, économiques et politiques, tels que le commerce grandissant avec l’Empire Ottoman, l’établissement d’ambassades européennes à Constantinople, et le nombre croissant de voyageurs en Orient. Cette influence, à laquelle on donnera plus tard le nom de ‘turquerie’, se manifeste de multiples façons: dans les illustrés de mode et leurs dessins précis de costumes turcs, dans les portraits de nobles, hommes et femmes, habillés de soie orientale et de fourrures, ainsi que dans les performances théâtrales mettant en scène les batailles entre Tamerlane et le sultan Beyazid.
L’étude érudite de la langue turque reste quant à elle un domaine peu exploré.
Les supports pédagogiques et ouvrages de référence pour l’apprentissage du turc (lexiques, thésaurus, grammaires, et recueils d’expression) se multiplient au XVIIème siècle, en réponse à une demande croissante de la part de groupes et individus cultivant une appréciation approfondie de l’histoire et de la culture de cette région, et désirant parler couramment la langue.
Prenant pour point de départ la première grammaire turque imprimée, l’Institutiones linguae Turcicae de Hieronymus Megiser (Leipzig, 1612), et concluant avec les innovations de François à Mesgnien Meninski dans son Thesaurus linguarum orientalium (Vienne, 1680), cette communication traite de l’apprentissage du turc à travers ‘les règles, professeurs, et livres’, les trois piliers de l’apprentissage des langues orientales selon Thomas Erpenius dans son oratio à Leiden en 1620.
The Beginnings of Printing in the Ottoman Capital: Book Production and Circulation in Early Moder... more The Beginnings of Printing in the Ottoman Capital: Book Production and Circulation in Early Modern Constantinople
The talk will focus on the appearance of the printed book in the city after the fall of the Byzantine Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, which coincided with the establishment of Gutenberg’s press, and before the founding of the first ‘official’ Ottoman press in 1727. The reasons behind the late adoption of the printing technology among the Muslim communities of the Ottoman Empire will be discussed and incunabula printing, book production and the first non-Muslim presses run by Jewish, Armenian and Greek publishers in Constantinople between 1500 and 1700 will be examined. Relevant early printed copies from the British Library Rare Book Collection will be brought to the audience’s attention.
The Apparition of the Printed Word in the Ottoman Capital: Book Production and Circulation in Con... more The Apparition of the Printed Word in the Ottoman Capital: Book Production and Circulation in Constantinople, 1453-1729
Printing and circulation of printed texts in the Mediterranean have become central to the study of the history of the book in recent years. Despite the substantial research on Ottoman printing in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and in different locales, the beginnings of printing in Constantinople and the Ottoman practices concerning the circulation of printed books in the early modern period is an area that remains largely unexplored. This paper examines the appearance of the printed book in Constantinople from the fall of the Byzantine capital city to the Ottomans in 1453, which coincided with the establishment of Gutenberg’s press, to the founding of the first ‘official’ Ottoman press in 1729, which was not only sanctioned but also supported by the Sultan. The paper investigates incunabula printing, book production and the first non-Muslim presses run by Jewish, Armenian and Greek publishers in Constantinople making use of unpublished archival material. The circulation of printed books in the city will also be examined placing particular focus on the material aspects of the art of printing and the trade of books.