Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2025 November 27
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November 27
[edit]The scripts used by people with the Ottoman nationality when writing Ottoman Turkish
[edit]I've a question: if an Ottoman Armenian Catholic wanted to wrote Turkish to a Turkish Muslim, then which script would he use? As Armenians (excl. Muslims) wrote Turkish using the Armenian script, and Muslims would no doubt used Arabo-Persian script. RekishiEJ (talk) 09:53, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
- Unless the sender knew the recipient to be able to read texts written using the Armenian alphabet, both courtesy and common sense strongly suggest they would have used a script that was more readily accessible to the recipient, in this hypothetical case presumably the Ottoman Turkish version of the Arabo-Persian script. Even if (not unlikely) the recipient was illiterate, they should have had little difficulty in finding someone who could read it to them. And, if the sender had not mastered the Ottoman Turkish alphabet (also not unlikely), they would have dictated the letter to a kâtip (scribe). BTW, having "Ottoman nationality" sounds anachronistic; your hypothetical correspondents are more plausibly referred to as having been "Ottoman subjects". ‑‑Lambiam 11:41, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
- Thanks, but due to the Tanzimat Ottoman nationality law was enacted in 1869, so my hypothetical correspondent isn't anachronistic.--RekishiEJ (talk) 12:19, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
- By the way, some Ottoman Muslims were able to read Armeno-Turkish, see . It shows that some Ottoman Muslims read Armeno-Turkish materials (e.g. Ahmet İhsan Tokgöz, a Muslim journalist and bureaucrat read Manzume-i Efkar (a newspaper using Armeno-Turkish) during his school days).--RekishiEJ (talk) 12:19, 27 November 2025 (UTC) altered a bit 13:10, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
- Thanks, but due to the Tanzimat Ottoman nationality law was enacted in 1869, so my hypothetical correspondent isn't anachronistic.--RekishiEJ (talk) 12:19, 27 November 2025 (UTC)