Acâib-al-Mahlûkat Translations from the Eastern Turkish Language
Hilal YılmazAcâib-al-Mahlûkats show how people perceive the universe, and beings in the universe, providing encyclopedic information about them. These works also reflect the geography and cosmography of the period in which they were written. Appearing for the first time in a Persian language work written by Abu'l-Hüseyin Abdurrahman bin Ömer as-Sufi, Acâib-al-Mahlûkats became widespread in Arabic and Turkish literature over time. Scholars now agree that Acâib-al-Mahlûkats, which emerged in Turkish literature in the 15th century and have been translated at different times and places since then, constitute a popular narrative tradition in Turkish literature. Written in both western and eastern Turkish, Acâib-al-Mahlûkats contain important information about the Turkish language and the nation’s cultural history. This study, presents an overview of Acâib-al-Mahlûkats written in western Turkish to draw attention to those written in eastern Turkish. Afterward, several authors wrote in this genre in eastern Turkish, of which some examples still exist: the translation of Bannai bin Muhammed Herevî, translations of Acâib-al-Mahlûkats by unknown translators and Sultan Muhammed bin Dervis Muhammed-al-Mufti-al-Belkhi's Persian works in this field providing more information about this genre. The translations of Acâibal-Mahlûkat narratives written in western and eastern Turkish are important because these narratives form a common narrative tradition for eastern and western Turkish.
Doğu Türkçesiyle Yazılmış Acâibü’l-Mahlûkat Tercümeleri
Hilal YılmazAcâibü’l-Mahlûkatlar, insanların evreni ve evrende bulunan varlıkları nasıl algıladıklarını gösteren, bu varlıklarla ilgili ansiklopedik bilgiler içeren, yazıldıkları dönemin coğrafyası ve kozmografyası hakkında önemli bilgiler veren eserlerdir. İlk defa İran edebiyatında Ebü’l- Hüseyin Abdurrahman bin Ömer es-Sûfi tarafından yazılan Acâibü’l-Mahlûkat, zaman içerisinde Arap ve Türk edebiyatında da yaygınlaşmıştır. Türk edebiyatında 15. yüzyıldan itibaren yazılmaya başlanan ve bu tarihten itibaren farklı zamanlarda ve farklı yerlerde pek çok tercümesi yapılan Acâibü’l-Mahlûkat tercümelerinin Türk edebiyatında sevilen bir anlatı geleneğini oluşturduğu anlaşılmaktadır. Hem Batı Türkçesiyle hem de Doğu Türkçesiyle yazılmış olan Acâibü’l-Mahlûkat tercümeleri Türk dili ve Türk kültür tarihi açısından oldukça önemli bilgiler barındırmaktadır. Bu çalışmada dikkatleri Doğu Türkçesiyle yazılmış olan Acâibü’l-Mahlûkatlara çekebilmek için Batı Türkçesiyle yazılmış olan Acâibü’l-Mahlûkat tercümeleri hakkında kısa bilgiler verilmiştir. Daha sonra Doğu Türkçesiyle yazılmış olan Bennâî bin Muhammed Herevî’nin tercümesi ve mütericimi bilinmeyen Acâibü’l-Mahlûkat tercümesi ile Sultan Muhammed bin Derviş Muhammedü’l- Muftiü’l-Belhî’nin bu alandaki Farsça eseri tanıtılmış, bu eserler hakkında çeşitli bilgiler sunulmuştur. Acâibü’l-Mahlûkat anlatılarının Batı Türkçesi ve Doğu Türkçesiyle yazılmış olan çeşitli tercümeleri bu anlatıların Doğu Türkçesi ve Batı Türkçesi için ortak bir anlatı geleneğini oluşturması bakımından büyük önem arz etmektedir.
Acâib-al-Mahlûkats show how people perceive the universe and beings in the universe, providing encyclopedic information about them. These works also reflect the geography and cosmography of the period in which they were written. Acâib-al-Mahlûkats, a narrative style that emerged from a wide variety of sources, contain important information about the period in which they were written.
The work named Acâib-al-Mahlûkat written by Abu’l-Hüseyin Abdurrahman bin Ömer as-Sufi in the 10th century is the first known example of this genre. Sunsequently, many Acâibal-Mahlûkats were written under the name of Acâib-al-Mahlûkat or other names in Persian, Arabic, and Turkish literature. Muhammed bin Mahmud bin Ahmed et-Tusî es-Selmanî’s Acâib-al-Mahlûkat ve Garâib-al-Mevcûdat and Kazvînî’s Acâib-al-Mahlûkat ve Garâibal-Mevcûdat are very important because these works served as examples for other studies. Acâib-al-Mahlûkats were generally created according to the system used by Ahmed et-Tusi and Kazvînî in their work.
Acâib-al-Mahlûkats, whichs shed light on the universe of the period in which they were written and people’s perceptions of everything in the universe, began to appear in Turkish literature from the 15th century with the influence of Arabic and Persian literature. The first Acâib-al-Mahlûkat written in Turkish is the work of Ali bin Abdurrahman. In Turkish literature, works in the Acâib-al-Mahlûkat style were written by many poets, such as Yazıcıoğlu Ahmed Bican, Sürûrî, Bennâî bin Muhammed Herevî, Bosna Kadısı Mevlânâ Gınâî, and Eyub bin Halîl. As far as we know, 15 Acâib-al-Mahlûkat translations have been made in Turkish literature: 12 in western Turkish, 2 in eastern Turkish, and 1 in Persian. The fact that Acâibal-Mahlûkats were written many times in both western and eastern Turkish at different times and places indicate that these narratives constitute a common literary narrative both language.
Various studies have been carried out on Acâib-al-Mahlûkats written in western Turkish translated from Acâib-al-Mahlûkats written in Turkish literature. In this study, we aim to draw attention to Acâib-al-Mahlûkats written in eastern Turkish. For this reason, this paper after briefly introducing Acâib-al-Mahlûkats written in western Turkish has an in-dept discussion on examples of the genre in eastern Turkish.
The first of the Acâib-al-Mahlûkat translations written in eastern Turkish is the work of Bennâî bin Muhammed Herevî, known as Acâib-al-Mahlûkat or Mecma-al-Garâyib. The academic literature contains a great deal of information on the work of Bennâî, an important poet during his time. However, as far as we know, no study about this particular work has been conducted to date.
Another Acâib-al-Mahlûkat, written in eastern Turkish, is the translation of Acâib-alMahlûkat, by an unnamed translator. The author, place, and completion date of this work as well as to whom it was presented, remain unknown. It is thought that the work was written in the post-classical eastern Turkish period between the 17th and 19th centuries. Emrah Kalaycı, Ertuğrul Alemdar, Gamze Çelik, Hilal Yılmaz, and Adnan Erbak studied this work for a master’s thesis in 2019.
In the eastern Turkish area, Sultan Muhammed bin Dervis Muhammed-al-Mufti-al-Balkhî wrote another Acâib-al-Mahlûkat in Persian in the 16th century, named Mecma-al-Garâib. This work is very important in showing that Acâib-al-Mahlûkat narratives were not only translated into Turkish by Turks; rather, Turks also produced works in this style in different languages, such as Persian. No studies on Mecma-al-Garâib exist in the academic literature.
All Acâib-al-Mahlûkats written in eastern and western Turkish should be studied in detail and presented to the world of science to better demonstrate that Acâib-al-Mahlûkat narratives, with many examples in Iranian, Arabic, and Turkish literature, constitute a common literary genre in the Turkish world. For this purpose, the authors of this paper have decided to showcase and analyze Acâib-al-Mahlûkat translations written in eastern Turkish.
