Translation Office (Ottoman Empire)

The Translation Office (Turkish: Tercüme Odası, also spelled Terceme Odası,[1] or Terdjuman Odasi; French: Direction de Traduction,[2] also rendered as Bureau des Interprètes[3] or Cabinet des Traducteurs[4]) was an organ of the Government of the Ottoman Empire that translated documents from one language to another.

The government created it in 1821 as the Ottoman authorities wanted to train their own corps of Turkish translators instead of using Phanariotes due to the Greek War of Independence occurring. Most of the staff at Ottoman diplomatic missions in Europe originated from this office.[5]

Salaries and prominence of the office increased after the 1830s in the aftermath of the Battle of Konya and Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi.[6]

The office created French-language versions of official documents, which catered to foreigners and Ottoman non-Muslims.[1]

Notable staff

See also

References
  1. Strauss, Johann (2016-07-07). "Language and power in the late Ottoman Empire". In Murphey, Rhoads (ed.). Imperial Lineages and Legacies in the Eastern Mediterranean: Recording the Imprint of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Rule. Routledge. // (ISBN 9781317118442), Google Books PT192.
  2. Young, George (1905). Corps de droit ottoman; recueil des codes, lois, règlements, ordonnances et actes les plus importants du droit intérieur, et d'études sur le droit coutumier de l'Empire ottoman (in French). Vol. 3. Clarendon Press. p. 1.
  3. Ubicini, Abdolonyme (1877). La constitution ottomane du 7 zilhidjé 1293 (23 décembre 1876) Expliquée et Annotée par A. Ubicini. Paris: A. Cotillon et Co.. p. 13. - PDF file
  4. Ernest Lavisse; Alfred Rambaud, eds. (1899). Histoiree générale du IVe siècle à nos jours: Révolutions et guerres nationales, 1848-1870. Vol. XI. Paris: Armeand Colin & Cie. pp. 535-536.
  5. Ágoston, Gabor (2010-05-21). "Intelligence". In Ágoston, Gabor; Bruce Alan Masters (eds.). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. pp. 276-278. ISBN 9781438110257. - Cited: p. 278
  6. Findley, Carter Vaughn (2020-05-05). Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire: The Sublime Porte, 1789-1922. Princeton University Press. p. 135. ISBN 9781400820092.


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