Ömer Gök

It is known that many works originally written in Persian have been introduced to Turkish literature through translation. Although there are disputes about its origin, Jâmasb-nâme, whose Persian examples are at least older than the Turkish ones, is among these works. Jâmasb-nâmes are texts in which the events about Jâmasb, the son of the Prophet Daniel, who is famous for his knowledge on medicine and wisdom, are treated with the frame story technique. These texts, in which tale and story are intertwined, have been the subject of both Turkish folk literature, classical Turkish literature and comparative literature. Although the first known translation of Jâmasb-nâme was written by Ahmad-i Dâî, the most famous translation of Jâmasb-nâme was composed by Abdî Mûsâ. Abdî Mûsâ’s translation was the source of many other translations of Jâmasb-nâme prepared after him. It is seen that many of the verse and prose translations found in the sources were written by abridging, expanding or being inspired by Abdî’s work. In the prose translation of Jâmasb-nâme to be introduced in this study, although the influence of Abdî can be mentioned in terms of the development of events, no concrete evidence of this was found in the text. This translation, whose translator is unknown, is understood to have been written in the beginning of the month of Rajab in the year 1272 AH (1856 AD). The work is registered in the Osman Ergin Turkish Manuscripts collection of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Atatürk Library with the fixture number 0161. In this study, firstly, the tradition of Jâmasb-nâme translation in Turkish literature will be briefly mentioned, then the manuscript in question will be introduced and its form and content features will be analysed.

Key Words: 19th Century Turkish Literature, Jamasb-nâme Translations, The Thousand and One Nights, Prose Story, Tale, Translation Tradition.