A History of Turkish Bible Translations Annotated chronology with historical notes and suggestions for further research © Bruce G. Privratsky, Ph.D. With thanks to all who have suggested corrections of previous editions Please cite: Version “S” – April 2014 Download updated versions from: http://historyofturkishbible.wordpress.com/ Send evaluations and corrections to:
[email protected] Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Turkish in Arabic Letters (Ottoman Turkish, Osmanlıca) Chapter 2: Turkish in Hebrew Letters (Hebræo-Turkish) Chapter 3: Turkish in Greek Letters (Græco-Turkish, Karamanlıca) Chapter 4: Turkish in Armenian Letters (Armeno-Turkish) Chapter 5: Turkish in Latin Letters (Modern Turkish, Yeni Türkçe) Chapter 6: Turkish in Cyrillic Letters (Bulgarian Turkish) Chapter 7: Non-Turkish languages of Anatolia and Rumelia Chapter 8: History of the Koran in Turkish translation: A Brief Excursus Appendix I: A list of all Turkish Bibles and Bible portions in strict chronological order but without annotations Appendix II: Turkish versions of the Lord’s Prayer Appendix III: Sample comparisons of Ali Bey’s Bible manuscript with Haki’s text and with the first printed Turkish Bible Appendix IV: The life of Wojciech Bobowski (Ali Bey), the first successful translator of the Turkish Bible, as a slave and free man Appendix V: An overview of slavery in the 17th-century Ottoman Empire, without which the life of Ali Bey cannot be understood 2 Introduction The Turkish1 Bible has a history almost as old as the English, French and German Bibles of the Protestant Reformation. Two Turkish translations of the Bible were completed 350 years ago. The first was a draft manuscript by Yahya b.