Samuel Dolbee, New York University
Amidst serious calls for several new states and less serious calls for 317,000,000 new states in the Middle East, it seems difficult to fathom how much of the space in question was controlled by one political entity just a century ago. Nevertheless, the time of Ottoman rule is often presented as outside of history in Western discussions. This is true of Iraq in particular, unless, of course, Ottoman history says that Iraq should be divided into three separate states. There are good reasons for this focus on General Maude more than Murad IV, of course. One is that we would never want all commentary on the contemporary Middle East to become Ottoman history dissertations.
Baghdad Imperial High School, Late 19th Century, Abdul Hamid Collection.
But it is still worth emphasizing that the Ottomans had a considerable impact on life in Iraq, and books like Orit Bashkin's The Other Iraq ably show the literary and cultural influence of Ottoman Turkish on Iraqi intellectuals even after the end of the Ottoman Empire. Today's document comes from the September-October 1911 issue of Lughat al-Arab, a self-described "monthly literary, scientific, and historical magazine" published in Baghdad. The article details the linguistic impact of Ottoman rule - and the alternately accommodating and cranky responses of Baghdad's residents to it - as a writer complains of how many Turkish words had made their way into Baghdadi colloquial Arabic based on an account from the famous Ottoman-Iraqi poet Maruf al-Rusafi.
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And as to the presence of Turkish words, al-Rusafi said: "While I was standing with the pedestrians on the Samara Bridge, a man came up to me and said: Where do you want [to go]? I said: I want to cross to Samara. So he said: Are you kalı? And he emphasized the "l." But I did not understand what he wanted. So I said: What do you mean, stranger? And he returned to the question and added to it the word "here." But again I did not understand. So he said: Do you live here or not? And I said: no. And then I realized that the word "kalı" had been taken from kalmak with the meaning "to stay" in Turkish. And today for this type of speech there are many examples in colloquial. Hence you hear them using verbs and nouns with Arabic conjugations or declensions from Turkish roots. And so they say: "Don't boz my mind," or don't distract me. They take it from bozmak. And they say, "I çalış," which is "I try." From çalışmak. And these pronunciations are prevalent among the soldiers and government officials from the sons of the Arabs, thus you hear a soldier say to another soldier: "Go değiş the sentry," which is "switch it." From değiştirmek, or he says, "Süperge the floor" which is sweep it, from süpermek. And he says, "I asal my tüfek": I wipe my rifle and polish it. From salmak.
And indeed once I met with one of the government officials in a celebratory gathering and he began to address some of those present like this:
"Yesterday we went to someone's house, and when we entered the selamlık we climbed above, and a paye from the nardiban was collapsed. And because the nardiban was karanlık my leg tripped. Neyse, we climbed and we entered the room, and we sat in a karmakarışık way, and the light was sönük, so I had a sıkıntı, etc."
And I whispered in the ear of one of the attendees: What harm is it if the man speaks Turkish or Baghdadi colloquial Arabic and, being that he's from here, removes from it (the language) these Turkish expressions. Especially since this (Turkish influence) is the biggest thing killing the Arabic language by deformation to the point that it (Turkish influence) is removing it (Arabic) from its original state. And if I wanted to undertake research here then I would bring forward what the pronouncers of the letter "dad" (i.e. Arabic speakers) mourn for, what this unfortunate language is afflicted by in Baghdad." Oh!
And what saddens me to recall is that some of these phrases have indeed seeped into some of the Iraqi newspapers and magazines and harmed their reputation. And maybe the owners of our local newspapers do not take offense at my description of this colloquial language of ours, nor from my criticism toward it, just as I request that they do not think poorly of me because I dared to recall some slight matters that perhaps do not encounter acceptance and approbation from them. Thus I assure their excellencies that I indeed wrote what I wrote motivated by concern for the nation and pure amity for its noble kins and nothing else, so I hope they support me in this issue of significant bearing, with them keeping it (Turkish expressions) away from their distinguished newspapers, replacing it with what is of Arabic origin and of eloquent dialect and expression. And this amount is enough for this occasion, and peace.
And what saddens me to recall is that some of these phrases have indeed seeped into some of the Iraqi newspapers and magazines and harmed their reputation. And maybe the owners of our local newspapers do not take offense at my description of this colloquial language of ours, nor from my criticism toward it, just as I request that they do not think poorly of me because I dared to recall some slight matters that perhaps do not encounter acceptance and approbation from them. Thus I assure their excellencies that I indeed wrote what I wrote motivated by concern for the nation and pure amity for its noble kins and nothing else, so I hope they support me in this issue of significant bearing, with them keeping it (Turkish expressions) away from their distinguished newspapers, replacing it with what is of Arabic origin and of eloquent dialect and expression. And this amount is enough for this occasion, and peace.
Razuk Isa
Source: Lughat al-Arab No. 4, Şeval 1329, Teşrin Evvel 1911, 153-155.
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