ON THE MISTAKES OF NEZRALI’S CHAGATAI TURKISH DICTIONARY II

Abstract

Many Chagatai Turkish dictionaries have been edited in every corner of the world to understand the works of ‘Alí Şír Nevāyí. One of these is Neźr-‘Alí’s Chagatai Turkish - Persian dictionary, which was written in the 17th century in Iran by the order of the Safavid sultan Shah Ŝafí Sām Mírzā. This work, with the total number of entries being 725, was published by Farhad Rahimi in Türkiye in 2022 and in Iran in 2024. The entries in the work are generally selected from the field of Chagatai Turkish. Most of the examples are chosen from Nevāyí’s works, especially Ġarāyibü’ŝ-Ŝıġar and Fevāyidü’l-Kiber. Written between 1629 and 1642, this work served as a source for the Senglaĥ dictionary written by Mírzā Mehdí Ĥan Esterābādí. It is extremely important as the first Chagatai Turkish-Persian dictionary known in Iran. It is most likely the first Chagatai Turkish - Persian dictionary and the second dictionary of Chagatai Turkish after Abuşķa. Three copies of this dictionary, understood to have been written using the Abusha dictionary, have been identified: Tehran University - Merkez Library No. 4354/3, Tehran - Meclis Library No. 9176 (Sebt No. 85417) and Kum - Gülpaygani Library No. 20/148 - 4028/1. These dictionaries, which were generally written in the Ottoman Empire, Iran, Azerbaijan, Khorasan, India or Turkestan and have great value for the history of the development of the Turkish language, have formed a school of lexicography. These dictionaries, in Caferoğlu's words, unfortunately are not free from errors. There are such errors in Neźr-‘Alí Dictionary, as in all written dictionaries. The aim of this study was to identify such errors.