View source for Translation Office (Ottoman Empire)

The '''Translation Office''' ({{langx|tr|Tercüme Odası}}, also spelled ''Terceme Odası'',<ref name=StraussLangPT192>{{cite book|last=Strauss|first=Johann|chapter=Language and power in the late Ottoman Empire<!--Chapter 7-->|editor=Murphey, Rhoads|title=Imperial Lineages and Legacies in the Eastern Mediterranean: Recording the Imprint of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Rule|publisher=[[Routledge]]|date=2016-07-07}} // ({{ISBN|9781317118442}}), [[Google Books]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=gY-kDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT192 PT192].</ref> or Terdjuman Odasi;<!--sources: https://books.google.com/books?id=8pwLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA535 and https://books.google.com/books?id=4rDNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA535 --> {{langx|fr<!--French has affinity with the post-[[Tanzimat]] Ottoman Empire; this article notes French was a working language of this ministry, and [[Languages of the Ottoman Empire]] and sources cited from Strauss indicate how important French was among the Christian/Jewish minorities and the educated along with how the empire interacted with foreigners with French-->|Direction de Traduction}},<ref name=YoungV3p1>{{cite book|author=Young, George|title=Corps de droit ottoman; recueil des codes, lois, règlements, ordonnances et actes les plus importants du droit intérieur, et d'études sur le droit coutumier de l'Empire ottoman|publisher=[[Clarendon Press]]|volume=3|year=1905|language=fr|page=[https://archive.org/details/corpsdedroitott04turkgoog/page/n7 1]|title-link=Corps de droit ottoman; recueil des codes, lois, règlements, ordonnances et actes les plus importants du droit intérieur, et d'études sur le droit coutumier de l'Empire ottoman}}</ref> also rendered as Bureau des Interprètes<ref>{{cite book|author=Ubicini, Abdolonyme|author-link=Abdolonyme Ubicini|url=https://archive.org/details/sc_0001068641_00000001364801/page/n10|title=La constitution ottomane du 7 zilhidjé 1293 (23 décembre 1876) Expliquée et Annotée par A. Ubicini |year=1877|place=Paris|publisher=A. Cotillon et C<sup>o.</sup>|page=[https://archive.org/details/sc_0001068641_00000001364801/page/n19 13]}} - [https://archive.org/details/sc_0001068641_00000001364801 PDF file]</ref> or Cabinet des Traducteurs<ref>{{cite book|title=Histoiree générale du IVe siècle à nos jours: Révolutions et guerres nationales, 1848-1870|editor=Ernest Lavisse|editor2=Alfred Rambaud|publisher=Armeand Colin & C<sup>ie</sup>|place=Paris|volume=XI|year=1899|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8pwLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA535 535]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=8pwLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA536 536]}}</ref>) was an organ of the [[Government of the Ottoman Empire]] that translated documents from one language to another.
The government created it in 1821 as the Ottoman authorities wanted to train their own corps of Turkish translators instead of using [[Phanariotes]] due to the [[Greek War of Independence]] occurring. Most of the staff at [[List of diplomatic missions of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman diplomatic missions]] in Europe originated from this office.<ref name=Agostonp278>{{cite book|author=Ágoston, Gabor|chapter=Intelligence|editor=Ágoston, Gabor|editor2=Bruce Alan Masters|title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire|publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]]|date=2010-05-21|isbn=<!--Old: 1438110251-->9781438110257|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA276 276]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA278 278]}} - Cited: p. 278</ref>
Salaries and prominence of the office increased after the 1830s in the aftermath of the [[Battle of Konya]] and [[Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Findley, Carter Vaughn|title=Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire: The Sublime Porte, 1789-1922|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|date=2020-05-05|isbn=<!--140082009X-->9781400820092|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vEJKnuy4qmIC&pg=PA135 135]}}</ref>
[[Bernard Lewis]], author of ''[[The Muslim Discovery of Europe]]'', wrote that the Translation Office became "one of the avenues to preferment and power".<ref>{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=Bernard|title=The Muslim Discovery of Europe|publisher=[[W. W. Norton]]|date=June 1985|pages=[https://archive.org/details/muslimdiscoveryo0000bern/page/84/mode/2up 85]|isbn=0-393-30233-4|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>
The office created French-language versions of official documents. Such documents, created by the Translation Office and other Ottoman government organs dedicated to translating documents, catered to foreigners, and were used to create versions of documents in languages used by Ottoman non-Muslims.<ref>{{cite book|last=Strauss|first=Johann|editor-last=Murphey|editor-first=Rhoads|title=Imperial Lineages and Legacies in the Eastern Mediterranean: Recording the Imprint of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Rule|publisher=[[Routledge]]|date=2016-07-07|via=[[Google Books]]|chapter=Language and power in the late Ottoman Empire|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=XI-kDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA115 115]-}} - Cited: p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=XI-kDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA121 121]</ref>
==Notable staff==<!--Remember Pasha is a title and NOT a family name, organize by given name-->
* [[Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha]]<ref name=Agostonp278/>
* [[Mehmed Fuad Pasha]]<ref name=Agostonp278/>
==See also==
* [[Dragoman]]
* [[Languages of the Ottoman Empire]]
* [[Foreign relations of the Ottoman Empire]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* {{cite web|author=Kamay, Berna|url=http://www.thesis.bilkent.edu.tr/0006551.pdf|title=PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND THE TRANSLATION OFFICE(TERCÜME ODASI) IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE(1839-1876)|publisher=[[Bilkent University]]|date=September 2012}} - Master's degree thesis
{{Ottoman Empire}}
[[Category:1821 establishments in the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Communications in the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Government of the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:History of translation|Ottoman]]
[[Category:Ottoman Turkish language]]
[[Category:Translation organizations|Ottoman]]
[[Category:Translators from the Ottoman Empire]]
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