Turkish Yatagan. Need help, translate the text.

Zifir · 26th November 2009, 10:45 AM

Hi,
There is only one or two things to add to Dom's transliteration. I think in the first line there is elif (a) missing so it's Salih Agha not Salih Gabin, this is of course my guessing. The word at the end of the line is Alemdar (a rank in janissary corps).

Of course Teodor is correct saying that in the second half of the nineteenth century the title Agha became something like "sir" in Ottoman language. But before the abolishing of the Janissary Corps not everyone was an agha, it was mainly a military title.

One last comment about the yataghan, it's interesting that our sword maker, who was a son of a janissary called Osman Alemdar, was still using this janissary title (Alemdar) for his father in 1850's, because Sultan Mahmud II banned the use of janissary titles after the abolishing of the Janissary Corps. This is expected of course, because in 1850's this did not matter much for the state anymore.

26th November 2009, 10:45 AM	#15
Zifir Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Istanbul Posts: 228	Hi, There is only one or two things to add to Dom's transliteration. I think in the first line there is elif (a) missing so it's Salih Agha not Salih Gabin, this is of course my guessing. The word at the end of the line is Alemdar (a rank in janissary corps). Of course Teodor is correct saying that in the second half of the nineteenth century the title Agha became something like "sir" in Ottoman language. But before the abolishing of the Janissary Corps not everyone was an agha, it was mainly a military title. One last comment about the yataghan, it's interesting that our sword maker, who was a son of a janissary called Osman Alemdar, was still using this janissary title (Alemdar) for his father in 1850's, because Sultan Mahmud II banned the use of janissary titles after the abolishing of the Janissary Corps. This is expected of course, because in 1850's this did not matter much for the state anymore. Attached Images