A MULTİLİNGUAL DİCTİONARY FROM THE 17th CENTURY: TERCEME-İ LÛGAT-I HİNDÎ

Turk lexicology started with Diwanu Lugati’t-Turk, the great work of Mahmud Kashgari, and made significant progress over time. Many dictionaries were prepared in Turkish, which was spoken in a wide area. Turkish dictionaries began to be seen from the middle of the 18th century. Dictionaries before this date are bilingual and multilingual dictionaries prepared to teach a foreign language. These dictionaries were originally written in Arabic - Turkish, Persian - Turkish or Arabic - Persian - Turkish. In the course of time, the Ottoman society formed a developed and multicultural structure. For this reason, in addition to the dictionaries containing Arabic and Persian vocabulary, dictionaries containing the languages of the nations that have been living together or which have been established cultural, political and economic relations have been prepared.One of these dictionaries is Terceme-i Lûgat-ı Hindî, which was organized in the form of Hindi - Persian - Turkish in the second half of the 17th century. Terceme-i Lûgat-ı Hindi, the only Hindi - Persian - Turkish dictionary written in the Ottoman period, was written by Hezarfen Hüseyin Efendi, a prominent scholar of the 17th century. The original of the work which was started to be written in 1678 is unknown. The only known copy of the work was obtained in 1806. In the work which is prepared according to the tradition of Arabic lexicography, a total of 623 Hindi headword and Persian and Turkish equivalents are given. In this study, the lexicographic features of Terceme-i Lûgat-ı Hindî have been tried to be determined.

Keywords

Lexicography, Terceme-i Lûgat-ı Hindî, Hindi-Turkish Dictionary, Hezarfen Hüseyin Efendi