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The Sayings of Pleasure. A Crimean Turkish Karaim Polemic Treatise against Rabbanites, Christians, Muslims and Freemasons dated 1816

Henryk Jankowski

henryk.jankowski@icloud.com
Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Wydział Neofilologii, Katedra Studiów Azjatyckich (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2576-1204


Abstract

This article is a critical edition of an anonymous Crimean
Turkish Karaim polemic treatise Igeret Imre Noʿam ‘The Treatise Sayings of Pleasure’ against the Rabbanites, Christians, Muslims and freemasons, that is the atheists. This is the only polemic religious treatise and one of the few works of this kind written by the Karaims in a Turkic language. Dated 1816, it is at the same time the earliest document written in this language as known so far, if we disregard earlier glosses and individual sentences. Although the manuscript which contains the text edited is known since 2003, it has not been mentioned by any study and bibliography of Karaim literature. The article presents two styles encountered in the treatise, one being the author’s own style and the other the style of citations from the Karaim Bible. Attention is paid to the adaptation of the language of the old Crimean Karaim Bible translation to Crimean Turkish Karaim. Some characteristic lexical units and language features are also discussed. A short passage is devoted to other non-biblical works copied in the manuscript in which the Sayings of Pleasure is found.


Keywords:

Crimean Turkish Karaim, polemic treatise, Karaims, Rabbanites, Christians, atheists, critical edition

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Published
2024-12-30

Cited by

Jankowski, H. (2024). The Sayings of Pleasure. A Crimean Turkish Karaim Polemic Treatise against Rabbanites, Christians, Muslims and Freemasons dated 1816. Karaim Almanac, 13, 89–155. https://doi.org/10.33229/ak.1078

Authors

Henryk Jankowski 
henryk.jankowski@icloud.com
Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Wydział Neofilologii, Katedra Studiów Azjatyckich Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2576-1204

Profesor w Instytucie Orientalistyki Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu. Językoznawca, turkolog i hungarysta, założyciel poznańskiej turkologii. Jest autorem i współautorem blisko 200 publikacji, w tym kilku książek i wielu artykułów, publikowanych w polskich i światowych wydawnictwach, takich jak De Gruyter, Brill i Harrassowitz, zapraszany do udziału w wydawnictwach ogólnych i monograficznych, takich jak Handbook of Jewish Languages, Word-formation: An International Handbook of the Languages of Europe, Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, Encyclopedia of Turkic Language and Linguistics (w przygotowaniu). Przez wiele lat zajmował się turkijskimi językami Krymu, krymskotatarskim, krymskotureckim, krymskokaraimskim i krymczackim. Inne języki z obszaru jego zainteresowań to turecki, kazachski, kirgiski i uzbecki. Wiele prac poświęcił też piśmiennictwu Tatarów litewsko-polskich.



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