Persian Gulf in the Early Modern Turkey and Ottoman Lexicons and Encyclopedias

Document Type : مقالات علمی -پژوهشی

Authors

• Mortaza Firuzi ¹
• Seyed Hadi Zarghani ²
• Hadi Azami ²
• zahra nasimi ³

¹ Researcher of Contemporary Islam Department,. Islamic Encyclopedia Foundation, Tehran, Iran.

² Associate Professor, Political Geography, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

³ Ph.D. Student, Political Geography, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22067/pg.2023.79975.1184

Abstract

There have been many changes in geographical names throughout history. After the formation of the modern nation-state in the Middle East and then the spread of nationalism in the region, geographical names played a significant role in their national identity. This method of naming also holds true for the name of the Persian Gulf. The name of the Persian Gulf has been used as the most common name in history. In this respect, despite a great deal of research on the name of the Persian Gulf, there has been little research linked to the Persian Gulf entry in Ottoman and Turkish lexicons and encyclopedias.
This paper focuses on the entries of the Persian Gulf in early modern Turkey and the Ottoman lexicon and encyclopedia, which were written before the establishing of modern nation-states in the Middle East. This research is new to his field, as no research was found regarding the Persian Gulf entry in the Turkish and Ottoman lexicons and encyclopedias. In this research, by adopting a descriptive-analytic method, the associated entries in the seven Turkish and Ottoman sources were translated and analyzed.
The results of this study show that the entries of the Persian Gulf hold a special place in modern Turkish and Ottoman sources. When it comes to the Persian Gulf, they used Baṣra Körfezi, Baḥr-i Fârs, and ʿAcem. These names are equal to one another, and there is no preference for their use. Furthermore, it was only used in the Ottoman era. However, the Persian Gulf has always been used both before and during this period, and also in the post-Ottoman period.

Keywords

• Persian Gulf
• Baṣra Körfezi
• Lexicons
• Encyclopedias
• Ottoman Empire

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