Dragoman 3007483 198523716 2008-03-16T00:35:37Z AnonMoos 21047 please give some citation of surprising "fact" {{otheruses}} '''Dragoman''' designates the official title of a person who would function as an [[Interpreter (communication)|interpreter]], translator and official guide between [[Turkish language|Turkish]], [[Arabic language|Arabic]], and [[Persian language|Persian]]-speaking countries and [[polity|polities]] of the [[Middle East]] and [[Europe]]an [[Embassy|embassies]], [[consulate]]s, vice-consulates and [[trading post]]s. A dragoman had to have a knowledge of Arabic, Turkish, and European languages. The position took particular prominence in the [[Ottoman Empire]], where demand for the mediation provided by dragomans is said to have been created by the resistance on the part of the [[Islam|Muslim]] Ottomans to learn the languages of non-Muslim nations. The office incorporated [[diplomacy|diplomatic]] as well as linguistic duties — namely, in the [[Porte]]'s relation with [[Christendom|Christian countries]] — and some dragomans thus came to play crucial roles in Ottoman politics. The profession tended to be dominated by ethnic [[Greeks]], including the first Ottoman Grand Dragoman [[Panayotis Nicosias]], and [[Alexander Mavrocordato]]. It became customary that most [[hospodar]]s of the [[Phanariote]] rule (roughly 1711–1821) over the [[Danubian Principalities]] ([[Moldavia]] and [[Wallachia]]) would previously have occupied this Ottoman office, a fact which did not prevent many of them from joining conspiracies that aimed to overthrow Turkish rule over the area. ==Etymology and variants== In [[Arabic language|Arabic]] the word is ترجمان (''tarjumān''), in [[Turkish language|Turkish]] ''tercüman''. Deriving from the [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] [[quadriliteral]] root ''t-r-g-m'', it appears in [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] as "targumannu," in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] as מתרגם (''metargem'') and in [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] as ''targemana''. During the Middle Ages the word entered European languages: in [[Middle English]] as ''dragman'', in [[Old French]] as ''drugeman'', in [[Medieval Latin|Middle Latin]] as ''dragumannus'', and in [[Medieval Greek|Middle Greek]] δραγομάνος. Later European variants include the [[German language|German]] ''trutzelmann'', the [[French language|French]] ''trucheman'' or ''truchement'' (in modern French it is ''drogman''), the [[Italian language|Italian]] ''turcimanno'', and the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ''trujamán'', ''trujimán'' and ''truchimán''; these variants point to a Turkish or Arabic word "turjuman", with different vocalization. ''[[Webster's Dictionary]]'' of 1828 lists ''dragoman'' as well as the variants ''drogman'' and ''truchman'' in English. ==See also== *[[List of dragomans]] ==References== *[[Bernard Lewis]], ''From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East'', [[Oxford University Press]], London and New York, 2004 *Philip Mansel, "Viziers and Dragomans," in ''Constantinople: City of the World's Desire 1453-1924'', London, 1995. pp. 133-162 *Marie de Testa, Antoine Gautier, "Drogmans et diplomates européens auprès de la Porte Ottomane", in ''Analecta Isisiana'', vol. lxxi, Les Éditions ISIS, Istanbul, 2003 *Frédéric Hitzel (ed.), ''Istanbul et les langues Orientales'', Varia Turca, vol. xxxi, [[L'Harmattan]], Paris and Montreal, 1997 [[Category:Court titles]] [[Category:Dragomans| ]] [[Category:History of the Middle East]] [[Category:Politics of the Ottoman Empire]] {{Ottoman-stub}} [[ca:Drogman]] [[de:Dragoman]] [[fr:Drogman]] [[it:Dragomanno]] [[nl:Drogman]] [[pl:Dragoman]] [[ro:Dragoman]]