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    Plan détaillé Texte intégral Transcription Translation Commentary Transcription Translation Commentary Notes de bas de page Auteur

    A Handbook and Reader of Ottoman Arabic

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    21. Arab merchant letters from the Gotha collection of Arabic manuscripts

    Boris Liebrenz

    p. 293-306

    Texte intégral Transcription MS Gotha orient. A 2837, doc. 1 Recto Righthand Margin Top Margin Verso Translation Recto Righthand Margin Top Margin Verso Commentary Recto Verso MS Gotha orient. A 2837, doc. 148 Transcription Recto Verso Translation Recto Verso Commentary Recto Verso Notes de bas de page Auteur

    Texte intégral

    1Arabic letters concerning personal and business matters abound in the pre-Ottoman period, but become extremely scarce afterwards. Since the early 19th century, the Forschungsbibliothek Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha (Germany) has held seven volumes of merchant letters dating from the middle of the 18th century until 1806. Numbering more than 1,600 letters, this repository seems to be the largest one preserved from the period.

    2The writers and addressees are both Christian and Muslim and examples of both will be given here. There are some overlaps, but in general the Christian letters cover a network of merchants of Syrian origin that operated between Cairo, Alexandria, Damietta, Jaffa, Jerusalem, and Damascus, with mentions of further extensions to Istanbul, Cyprus, and Rhodes. The letters by Muslims (with few Christian examples) belong to several networks of Muslim merchants centred in Cairo. In the case presented here, the network revolves around two brothers Abū Qaṣīṣa and letters are exchanged primarily between Jedda, Suez, and Cairo.

    3 The language of the Christian network is marked by unequivocal embracing of the colloquial. Its features include: loss of gender distinction, plural, or dual; replacement of emphatic consonants with their unemphatic counterparts (Image> Image; Image > Image; Image > Image; Image > Image), but also occasionally the reverse (e.g., مهارد regularly becomes Image); case endings lost or wrong (Image ب ); negation of all tempi with lam followed by a verb in perfect tense (lam kān) or even negation with lam with no verb at all (lam huwa bāqī); imperfect verb forms are often prefixed with a Image. The lexicon includes not only several words of Italian and French origin (Image), but also several particles of colloquial usage (šū, layš, minšān). The orthography changes with the individual scribes, but some features are prevalent: tāʾ marbūṭa becomes tāʾ and vice versa; plene writing of long vowels that are regularly omitted (Image); the ʾalif of the article is dropped when the initial hamza is silent (Image); individual words can be joined into one when contracted in speech (Image = qul lahū > qillu). The letters of Abū Qaṣīṣa’s network are generally more in line with the grammatical and orthographic rules of written Arabic although any of the aforementioned phenomena may occur.

    4The address differs between the two networks in layout and sometimes wording. Those from the Red Sea and Egypt are written in one line at the top of the verso side. The Syrians write several lines at the centre of what was the outer side of the folded letter. The same can be observed from other contemporary letters from the Ottoman Empire north of Egypt. This formal feature appears to mark a general division between letters written in Greater Syria and north of it (of which the Syrian merchant diaspora is an Egyptian extension to the south) on the one side, and those coming from Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, and further south, on the other.

    Transcription

    MS Gotha orient. A 2837, doc. 1

    5Fransīs Bernard Dumyān to his cousin Giovanni Rūk / Rocco and his maternal uncle Yūsuf Anṭūn Tarjumān Talāmās / Giuseppe Talamas in Damietta. The writer’s unnamed sister1 is also mentioned in the internal address.

    6The details of the matter reported in this latter are not always clear to me.2 Yet the contours of dramatic events revolving around two fierce legal cases taking place in Rosetta are evolving. They first pitted Fransīs against a powerful consul, while he believes he has the whole community of consuls on his side, securing documents from as far as Istanbul. The second case is that of a murder that had taken place in the Frankish quarter and sees the consuls united against the city’s governor, who is unable to present the murderer.

    Image
    Image

    7MSig. Guiseppe Talamas Incaricato dell’Agenzia d Spagna opera altiss. Giovanni Rocco in

    8Damietta

    Recto

    Image
    Image

    Righthand Margin

    Image

    9Note3

    Image

    Top Margin

    Image

    Verso

    Image

    Translation

    10With His blessing

    11May it arrive at the harbour Damietta and be expedited to the hand of his excellency our cousin the master

    12Juwānī Rūk and our maternal uncle the master Yūsuf Anṭūn Tarjumān Talāmās,

    13the esteemed, safe and sound.

    Recto

    14(1) May the Exalted protect them!

    15(2) Amen.

    16(3) [To] his Excellency our sister, our cousin Signor Juwānī, and our maternal uncle Signor Yūsuf, the esteemed.

    17(4) After expressing the longing for you with exceeding yearning for your Excellency, what we have to put before you (5) is this: you previously received a letter regarding the mint of Rāšīd by hand of the master Baṭrūshī, in which we informed you (6) about our arrival to put you at ease. God willing, it reached you and you are fine. Now (7) we want to report to your Excellency on the issue of the consul when he found all the consuls in support of us (8) because, unlike him, they were not driven by greed for money. Said consul answered to the crowd: (9) “It is true that I sent after him so that he would appear. But right now I have no claim against him, as he has none against me. (10) We had cited him to court at […] a consul who wanted him in the presence of all the consuls, (11) which he refused.” It is clear that this is a man who knows his ways and won’t stay blemished because of that. (12) His intention is to pocket the down payment—533 ½ [piasters and] 3 [miṣriyya] plus expenses—but—God willing— (13) with the presence of loving friends, he will be thwarted, with the mediation of Corfu. Because all the consuls have sealed papers for us, (14) also the heads of the monasteries of the Europeans (Ifranj) and the Orthodox (Rūm). We delivered them to Corfu for the Senate first […]. (15) And for good luck, the father of the esteemed Father Diyūnīsiyūs, guardian of the Orthodox, His Excellency (16) directed them to his father, too. And also a letter from him to the Principe according to our answer. We ask God (17) Praying for you Fransīs

    18(18)…

    19(19) Barnā Dumyān

    20(20)– (21) in the year 1219.

    Righthand Margin

    21(22) to prolong the lives of our friends. Please, always be at ease (23) about us, and don’t spare a thought on us. (24) We spend our days being invited, sometimes with the consuls, sometimes with (25) the traders. About the friends we ask God to enable us to satisfy (26) them all and that he would unite us in good spirit soon, (27) through the power of the Mother of the Lord, her beloved son, and all (28) the saints. Amen.

    22(29) Now: we sent al-Kunbārī to Rāšīd so that (30) he would get the ship’s manifest from Pītrū Atrāmārnī (31) by way of the master Rūšītī. I ask you only (32) to send the paper that arrived from (33) Islāmbūl with the seal of the consul’s office of the Seven (34) Islands, as well as a letter with the account (35) of the ship’s manifest. You will find it between (36) the franjī (Italian or in Latin characters?) papers. (This is) because al-Kunbārī (37) (might?) forget it. Please send it immediately (38) together with: a ( مطوق ?) of blue broadcloth belonging to (39) the dress on which are the shoes; (40) and 1 kind of (Image?) from (Image?); and four (41) or five coloured pillows.

    23(42) This is what I ask from you, with my constant prayers,

    Top Margin

    24(43) and greetings to everyone, each (44) by their names! Also to the brother Yaʿqūb Ġaṭṭās. (45) And from us (…) all the mothers kiss (the hands of) His Excellency (46) Our Father Bāṣilī and His Excellency Our Father Yūsuf and al-Bītrīyū, the great (47) guardian, and the guardian of Jerusalem, and al-Sanāyitū, and Father ʿĪsā, our neighbour. (48) We always ask for their intercession. This is written hastily! May your life be prolonged! (49) Extensive greetings to His Excellency the master Bāṣīlī Faḫr and the master (50) ʿAyrūt, the esteemed.

    Verso

    25(1)– (2) Previously, one (Image) overpowered the dragoman of Switzerland (3) and Napoli with a carabine and (the dragoman) was immediately killed. They took him and buried him (4) and all the consuls sent for the governor to demand the perpetrator. They wanted to (5) strangle him in the Frankish quarter. The governor searched for him but did not find him. So he said (6) to them: “I will hand over another (Image) for you to kill. Thus it’s still one (7) for one.” But they did not accept. And up to date they are still looking for the (8) killer. They want to fortify the gates and make the Frankish quarter (9) isolated. The local people rose up and will certainly write (10) to His Excellency the pasha. And they are waiting for his answer. They set out to build (11) on the wall. The worst curse on the local people every day! May our Lord (12) give a good outcome because all business stops at this state of affairs and (13) everything is expensive. This is to let you know.

    26We ask of our cousin, Senior Giovanni, (14) if he so pleases, to find a better opportunity to turn his merchandise into cash (15) than here or in Rāšīd—for Cairo we don’t know the prices. (16) The war is always an obstacle for this. Enough now! May you live long!

    Commentary

    27The address is in Italian and the lexicon of the writer, too, seems to show familiarity with Italian terms (l’abito, principe).

    Recto

    28Line 12

    29Image I interpret this to be a form of ʿarabūn, which, according to de Biberstein-Kazimirski (1860, 209) means arrhes, i.e., ‘deposit, down payment’.

    30Line 38

    31Image Like the more prevalent form Image, this term signifies a connection or belonging between two nouns, equivalent to the terms Image/Image and Image .

    32Line 39

    33Image. This word appears to be of a non-Arabic form and I interpret it as a rendering of the Italian l’abito ‘the dress’.

    34Line 48

    35Image. A standard excuse for a letter written in haste.

    Verso

    36Line 2

    37Image. This seems to reflect the Italian version of Switzerland, Svizzera.

    38Line 8

    39Image. This is the dialectal expression of intention and desire which is usually formed today and in the letters with دب (badd) as an invariable noun to which a personal pronoun is attached to express gender and number, e.g. Image. But in this rare case, as in a few other places throughout the letters, it is formed like a verb, e.g., Image.

    MS Gotha orient. A 2837, doc. 148

    40Makkī Rawāy to Ṣāliḥ Abū Qaṣīṣa at the Wikālat al-Naššārīn in Cairo. The letter was presumably sent from Suez, where Makkī was posted.

    Transcription

    Recto

    Image

    Verso

    Image

    Translation

    Recto

    41(1) May it arrive, God willing, to the well-protected Cairo and be delivered to the hand of the esteemed and noble one, the beloved brother al-ḥājj Ṣāliḥ Abū Qaṣīṣa at the Wikālat al-Naššārīn 8642

    Verso

    42(1) His Excellency, the esteemed and noble one, the beloved brother al-ḥājj Ṣāliḥ Abū Qaṣīṣa, may God strengthen him!

    43(2) After copious greetings for him and much longing for him, it shall not be concealed from you that we inform you that previously (3) we sent you a letter which included a cargo manifest, God willing it has (4) reached you and you looked at it and are in good health. As of today, we have forwarded to you, (5) on the dhow of al-ʿAydarūs, 15 beads, and on the dhow of al-Saʿīdī 15, and on (that of) Bā Hārūn 22. And that is the rightful passage of possession (ġilāq) (6) of the beads. We also inform you on behalf of the three captains of the aforementioned dhows, that when they are with you (7) in Cairo you can load five loads (aḥmāl) on each dhow because of the Syrian cargo (šaḥnat al-Šāmiyya) (8) that is with you. Because it has reached us that they load in Cairo and are afraid to come, (9) they will wrap the cargo in Cairo. So that you know.

    44Greet on my behalf (10) the brother al-ḫājj Muḥammad Ibn Qīmū and everyone who asks after us. Peace!

    45(11) al-sayyid Makkī

    46(12) Rawāy

    47(13) [signature]

    48(14)– (16) on 5 Rajab in the year 1210 (=15.1.1796)

    Commentary

    Recto

    49Line 1

    50٨٦٤٢ ‘8642’. This number has an apotropaic function. The letters of the southern network of mostly Muslim writers who corresponded between Cairo, the Red Sea, and the Hejaz, rarely exclude it. But it is sometimes also found in correspondence of the northern, mostly Christian network.

    Verso

    51Line 5

    52Image. I am not certain about the meaning of this word. My translation is based on Lane’s (1863–1893, VI: 2284) translation of the verb Image and its infinitive nouns Image and Image as “The pledge was, or became, a rightful possession [i.e. a forfeit] to the receiver of it,” although this remains an unsatisfactory explanation.

    Notes de bas de page

    1 Theresia, according to other letters.

    2 The matter is taken up again in Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, Ms. orient. A 2837, no. 27 (dated Ṣafar 30, 1219), which this one must precede, since the murder is mentioned as an immediate case here unlike in no. 27.

    3 This short-lived Republic of the Seven Islands or Septinsular Republic comprised several islands off the coast of modern Greece in the Ionian Sea, among them Corfu, mentioned in the letter. It was established by a joint Ottoman-Russian military intervention that took the territories from the French and it existed between 1800 and 1807, after which they were first annexed by Napoleon and then transformed into a British protectorate from 1815 to 1864.

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    • Boris Liebrenz
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    1 Theresia, according to other letters.

    2 The matter is taken up again in Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, Ms. orient. A 2837, no. 27 (dated Ṣafar 30, 1219), which this one must precede, since the murder is mentioned as an immediate case here unlike in no. 27.

    3 This short-lived Republic of the Seven Islands or Septinsular Republic comprised several islands off the coast of modern Greece in the Ionian Sea, among them Corfu, mentioned in the letter. It was established by a joint Ottoman-Russian military intervention that took the territories from the French and it existed between 1800 and 1807, after which they were first annexed by Napoleon and then transformed into a British protectorate from 1815 to 1864.

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    Liebrenz, B. (2021). 21. Arab merchant letters from the Gotha collection of Arabic manuscripts. In E.-M. Wagner (éd.), A Handbook and Reader of Ottoman Arabic. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. Consulté à l’adresse https://books.openedition.org/obp/23502
    Liebrenz, Boris. « 21. Arab Merchant Letters from the Gotha Collection of Arabic Manuscripts ». In A Handbook and Reader of Ottoman Arabic, édité par Esther-Miriam Wagner. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2021. https://books.openedition.org/obp/23502.
    Liebrenz, Boris. « 21. Arab Merchant Letters from the Gotha Collection of Arabic Manuscripts ». A Handbook and Reader of Ottoman Arabic, édité par Esther-Miriam Wagner, Open Book Publishers, 2021, https://books.openedition.org/obp/23502.

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    Wagner, E.-M. (éd.). (2021). A Handbook and Reader of Ottoman Arabic. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, University of Cambridge. Consulté à l’adresse https://books.openedition.org/obp/23227
    Wagner, Esther-Miriam, éd. A Handbook and Reader of Ottoman Arabic. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, University of Cambridge, 2021. https://books.openedition.org/obp/23227.
    Wagner, Esther-Miriam, éditeur. A Handbook and Reader of Ottoman Arabic. Open Book Publishers, University of Cambridge, 2021, https://books.openedition.org/obp/23227.
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