Persian MS 1012 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: A Persian-Turkish Lughat (Dictionary) by Niʻmat Allāh Rūmī (d. 1562). A Persian introduction precedes the dictionary proper that mentiones the author's name. The work is preceded by an introduction. The work consists of three parts on infinitives, particles and inflection, as well as nouns. Terms range from the words āvardan (to bring) to yuhrā (desirous). Descriptions in Turkish range from simple equivalents to explanations of more than a page, illustrated by stories and verse with occasional Persian and Arabic equivalents given. An unidentified, probably Ottoman scribe completed this manuscript on on the morning of a Sunday during the last days of Jumādà I 981 (either 30 Sept or 7 Oct. 1573 CE/20 or 27 Sept. 1573 JD).

Author: Niʻmat Allāh, Aḥmad ibn Mubārak Rawshanī'zādah Rūmī, d. 1562
Niʿmetullāh bin Aḥmed bin Mübārek er-Rūmī
Niʻmat Allāh, Aḥmad ibn Mubārak Rawshanī'zādah Rūmī, d. 1562
(نعمت الله بن احمد بن مبارک روشنی‌زاده رومی (969
Khalīl Ṣūfī
H̱alil Sufi
خلیل صوفی

Title: Lughat-i Niʻmat Allāh

Title: Luġat-ı Niʻmat Allāh

Title: لغت نعمة الله

Title: لغت نعمة الله رومی

Incipit: (basmalla) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): حمد بی قیاس و شکر با س‍پاس آن مالک بی همتا را که ملکش بی انباز است.

Explicit: برگ ۲۳۳پ (folio 233b): یویه ارزومند یهه مثله یهره بهتر مثله.

Colophon: Completed on the morning of a Sunday during the last days of Jumādà I 981 (either 30 Sept or 7 Oct. 1573 CE; or, 20 or 27 Sept. 1573 JD).

Language(s): Persian and Chagatai Turkish

For another copy of this same work, see Rylands Persian MS 884.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Textblock of cross-grained, natural ivory and yellow-tinted paper probably handmade in the Ottoman Empire.

Extent: 233 folios, 1 flyleaf (ff. 233 + i).

Dimensions (leaf): 209 × 128 mm.

Dimensions (written): 143 × 86 mm.

Foliation: Unfoliated

Collation

Undetermined. Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides.

Condition

In fair condition, with moderate water and insect damage and historical repairs throughout.

Layout

Written in 1 column with 27 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.

Additions:
Inscriptions:

The final left flyleaf a side (ff. ia) bears a note by a former owner in French:
‘Dictionn. Persan & Turc par nametallah.’
Folios 1a bears a note in Arabic script with the name ‘خواجه قردن’ (‘Ḫōca Ḳardon’), probably Denis-Dominique Cardonne, dated both ‘1165 AH (1751–52 CE)’ and ‘1752’.

Binding

Brown goatskin leather binding over pasteboards.

Accompanying Material

A slip of paper inserted in the volume describes the contents and references ‘Edwards’ Cat.’ with the price of ‘3/3/0’.

History

Origin: Probably completed in the Ottoman Empire; on the morning of a Sunday during the last days of Jumādà I 981 (either 30 Sept or 7 Oct. 1573 CE; 20 or 27 Sept. 1573 JD) AH.

Provenance and Acquisition

Subsequently acquired by Denis-Dominique Cardonne (1720–1783), as per his inscription on folio 1a. An orientalist and translator, he lived in Constantinople from the age of nine for twenty years, where he served a dragoman of France in the Morea (Peloponnese), before returning to France. The dates of his inscription would indicate that he acquired the volume shortly after his appointment as professor and Chair of Turkish and Persian at the Collège royal.

While the circumstances under which the volume arrived in Britain remain unclear, a note in the volume suggests that a Previously held in Chetham's Library, Manchester.

Purchased in 1981 by the John Rylands Library, together with other oriental manuscripts for £2000.

Record Sources

Manuscript description derived from Jan Schmidt, A Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the John Rylands University Library at Manchester, 2011 by Jake Benson in 2023 .

Availability

To book an in-person or online appointment to consult the manuscript, visit Using the Special Collections Reading Rooms. For any other enquiries please email uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk.

Bibliography

M. Götz, Türkische Handschriften, Vol. 2 (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1968), pp. 473–478.

G. P. Greswell, Bibliotheca Chethamensis: Sive Bibliothecæ Publicæ Mancuniensis Ab Humfredo Chetham Armigero Fundatæ Catalogus, Vol. III (Mancunii: Henricus Smith, 1826), p. 164, no. 7988

C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. II (London: British Museum, 1881), pp. 514–515 [British Library Add. 7680].

E. Sachau and H. Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstani, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Vol. I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), cols. 1000–1001, nos. 1697–1699 [Bodleian Ms Laud Or 125].

Jan Schmidt, A Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the John Rylands University Library at Manchester (Leiden: Brill, 2011), pp. 288–289.

C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. III, Pt. 1 (London: Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1984), pp. 70–71, no. 102.

Funding of Cataloguing

The John Rylands Research Institute and Library and the Soudavar Memorial Foundation.

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