The Ordinance Book of Janissary Corps: Kavânîn-i Yeniçeriyân

The most important and needed subjects in the history was the constitution and application of laws and regulations. The people that form the society and the institution serving these need a totality of certain laws in order to live in harmony. The presented study is about a manuscript on the laws and regulations of the Janissary Corps served once the Ottoman Empire. The manuscript has different versions. As for its subject, many researchers from different fields see it as a valuable reference work not only for its vocabulary but also for its language features reflecting the authentic language of its age. Here short information is given about the manuscript known as Kavânîn-i Yeniçeriyân. Following the discussion on the date and the subject of this anonymous work, information is given on the principal studies of this manuscript which was registered to the catalogues with different titles. The study concerns the chapters of the manuscript which is formed of nine parts. Each chapter and its theme is written respectively at the onset of the manuscript. Consequently, the study examines the selected copy of the manuscript by analysing the written language, phonetic and morphology. The study of the Kavânîn-i Yeniçeriyân presented here puts forward different features of its language than the present day Turkish language. Hereby, the aim is to bring to light the grammatical and language features of the related period in which the manuscript is written to describe the laws and principles of the Janissary Corps.

Keywords

Kavanin-i Yeniçeriyan, Janissary Corps, Kavanin, military definitions, Janissary regulations, 18th c