Turkish Proverbs in Comparative Turkish and French Durûb-ı Emsâl
Ebubekir EraslanProverbs, which reflect what a nation has experienced throughout the ages, have been used in the Turkish written language since the Orkhon inscriptions. Mahmut of Kasgarli, the first researcher to compile our proverbs, found that authors have used proverbs in their works until the nineteenth century. The activity of gathering the proverbs, which first started with Sinasi, found a wide response among intellectuals toward the end of the Empire. While new books comprising Turkish proverbs based on this response have emerged, other compilations include both Turkish and French proverbs in the same book. The third and last work of Turkish and French proverbs before 1928 the most voluminous and most exemplary of the three was Mukayeseli Durûb-ı Emsâl. Written by Izzet Hamid. Comprising a total of 332 Turkish proverbs. Compiled, according to the personel preference of the author, this proverb book is both a bilingual compilation of proverbs and it is in a different position with the features of Turkish proverbs.
Mukayeseli Türkçe ve Fransızca Durûb-ı Emsâl’deki Türk Atasözleri
Ebubekir EraslanBir ulusun geçmişten günümüze kadar tecrübe ettiklerini içinde barındıran atasözleri, Orhun yazıtlarından beri Türk yazı dilinde kullanılmaktadır. Atasözlerimizi derleyen ilk araştırmacı olan Kaşgarlı Mahmut’tan, XIX. yüzyıla kadar yazarların atasözlerini eserlerinde kullandığı görülmektedir. Tanzimat’la birlikte başlayan yenileşme ve değişme hareketleri kapsamında, atasözlerinin başlı başına derlendiği eserler kaleme alınmıştır. Şinasi’yle başlayan atasözlerini bir araya getirme faaliyetleri, İmparatorluğun son zamanlarına doğru aydın kesim arasında geniş bir karşılık bulmuştur. Bu karşılığa istinaden Türk atasözlerinin derlendiği yeni kitapların ortaya çıkmasıyla birlikte, Türk ve Fransız atasözlerinin aynı kitapta yer aldığı derlemelerin de yazıldığı görülmüştür. Üstelik XIX. asır ve XX. asrın başlarında yapılan FransızcaTürkçe, Türkçe-Fransızca atasözleri derlemeleri, diğer Batı dillerinden Türkçeye veya Türkçeden Batı dillerine yapılmamıştır. Türk ve Fransız atasözleri derlemelerinin 1928’den evvelki üçüncü ve son eseri Mukayeseli Türkçe ve Fransızca Durûb-ı Emsâl olmuştur. Galatasaray Lisesi öğretmeni olan İzzet Hamid’in yazdığı bu eser, üç eserin arasında en hacimlisi ve en bol örneklisi olanıdır. Eserde toplamda 332 Türk atasözü yer almaktadır. Yazarın kişisel tercihlerine göre derlenen bu atasözü kitabı, hem iki dilli bir atasözü derlemesidir hem de Türk atasözleri derlemeleri içerisinde sahip olduğu özelliklerle farklı bir yerdedir.
Proverbs are oral literature products reflecting the material and spiritual values of a nation. Many poets and writers, starting from the Orkhon monuments, until the nineteenth century, used more, or less proverbs in their works. While the word sav was used to express the proverb in the beginning, it is seen that the word mesel, which was inherited from Arabic, was used later. However, it is known that the definition the word of ancestors is frequently used in anonymous works and until the tweentieth century.
As a reflection of the nationalist movements that spread all over the world following the French revolution, in the Ottoman geography in the nineteenth century, a Turkish mania, emerged through proverbs, idioms, curses, riddles, and so on, with books on these subjects beginning to be written independently.
Sinasi, who initiated the new literature, was the first to compile an independent book of proverbs, and increasing popularity was then observed in this field during the Tanzimat period and especially after the second constitutional period, under the influence of Ziya Gokalp.
Due to Turkey’s geographical location near the West, the influence of French. The dominant language of the nineteenth century had increased. In order to learn the language, first foreigners, and then Turks wrote Turkish-French and French-Turkish works. Even in dictionaries written from Western languages to Turkish and from Turkish to Western languages, French has an advantage. The same is true in Turkish-French proverbs. When the literature is examined, only French proverbs were preferred to Turkish proverbs in Western languages until the nineteenth century and in the first quarter of the tweentieth century. Sinasi continued the compilation of Turkish-French proverbs that started with Jean D. Démétriades in 1888, with Mehmed Emin in 1891, and finally with Izzet Hamid in 1923.
Galatasaray High School teacher Izzet Hamid wrote a comparative work of 64 pages in Turkish and French called Durûb-ı Emsâl in 1923. As both the compiler and translator of the proverbs in the book. These related to each other by the crescent and star motif. Which, with a few exceptions, began with a Turkish proverb, and was followed by a French translation. In this study, the French proverb is given through the – sign in the same motif, and is translated into Turkish immediately following. Untranslated Turkish proverbs have also been included.
Turkish proverbs were translated with rika and written in verse. Untranslated Turkish proverbs and French proverbs are written in bold, whereas others are not. The French equivalent of the untranslated Turkish proverb is given in italics, while other French translations, and proverbs are not in italics.
A total of 332 proverbs were identified in the work, including 232 in the moon and star motifs, 55 in parentheses as synonyms of these 232 proverbs, and 45 in the same motif as close meaning.
The personal preferences of the author are in question in the selection and arrengement of the Turkish and French proverbs in the comparative Turkish and French work Durûb-ı Emsâl, which also has no preface. However, the outer and inner cover of the work, which we can call foreword, show a couplet by Nabi and Ziya Pasha, a word by Sinasi, and a Turkish proverb.
Considering the whole work, the following can be said about Turkish proverbs:
• Some proverbs are given in parentheses with their close meanings.
• The close meanings of some Turkish proverbs with the crescent and star motif are also mentioned.
• Some of the adverbs are included in the proverbial collection.
• It seems that some proverbs are incomplete. • Quotations find their place in the dictionary.
• Some idioms are included in the proverbial collection.
• The proverbs given in parentheses are meaningful proverbs close to the ones given before.
• The contemporary use of some proverbs is included.
• Different versions of proverbs, which differ in their contemporary, use are included.
• Some proverbs are obvious.
• Few known proverbs in Turkish are now encountered in the work.
• Different variants of the words in some proverbs are shown in parentheses.
