List or table: JRL C 181

Description

Accounts primarily in Ladino with a wide variety of loanwords from Ottoman Turkish and Judaeo-Arabic. Dated in the third column of the verso as 11٥9 AH (1746/1747 CE), surprisingly, with the the tens place provided by an eastern Arabic numeral, rather than western Arabic numerals like the rest of the digits. The reading of the tens places as 50, rather than zero, is confirmed by the year designation "ש׳ 59" in the first heading on the upper right corner of the recto. The Hijrī years '54, '55, and '56 are also mentioned in the second heading of the third column on the recto. The accounts were drawn up by a cloth merchant who had extensive business dealings with Ottoman state officials in Egypt– many of which involve transactions for "satin" (razo ראזו). At least three different officials bearing the title "קשפ" appear in the accounts, which is probably an erratic spelling of the title كاشف (sub-provincial governor): (recto) Ḥasan Ağa קשפ Gharbiyya, ʿAlī קשפ Beḥayra, (verso) Ibrahīm קשפ Sharqiyya. Additional Ottoman officials and title-holders include, for example: Aḥmad Ağa Çerkasī, Muḥ[ammad]/Maḥ[mūd] Qaʾīmaqam, Ḥalīl Beğ, Aḥmad Çorbacı, Aḥmad Efendī t[ābiʿ] Ib[rahīm] Beğ, ʿUmr Efendi Baş, Katkhuda al-Bāb, Muḥammad Ağa. At least two tailors are mentioned (sastre, שאשטרי), one of whom is listed as "the tailor of the aforementioned Beğ," whose household is referenced at the top of the third column on the verso: "Account of the house of Yosef Beğ ישיר(?) in the year of 11٥9" (חשבון די קאזה די יוסף בך ישיר שנת 11٥9). MCD.