A transcription and textual analysis of Münazara-i Tuti vü Zağ Tercemesi

Abstract

This study consists of a transcription of the Münazara-i Tuti vü Zağ Tercemesi, which was written by Şerif Efendi in the sixteenth century, and includes research on both the text and its writer. The work was translated into Turkish from Persian, using the inşa style at the request of Sultan Mehmed III. A discussion of superiority between a parrot and a crow, it is a religious and moral narration called münazara. The text is analyzed in terms of its content and form and then the manuscript of the text is transcribed from Ottoman Turkish to Turkish. The first chapter introduces the author, Şerif Efendi, and positions the text of Münazara-i Tuti vü Zağ Tercemesi in the münazara genre. The second chapter clarifies the origin of the story of the parrot and the crow and discusses the characteristics of the inşa style through the text. In addition, relationships among three different parrot-crow stories (the Persian Mübahase-i Tuti ba-Zağ, Nev‘i’s Münazara-i Tuti vü Zağ, and Şerif Efendi’s text) were examined. It is claimed that Şerif Efendi’s text was originally a translation of the Persian Mübahase-i Tuti ba- Zağ. The third chapter describes the method of textual analysis, the transcription system and concludes with a transcription of the text.