Scholarship on Letter: T-S Ar.38.111

Letter T-S Ar.38.111

Bibliographic citation
Jane Hathaway, Ottoman-Era Documents from the Cairo Genizah (Open Book Publishers, 2026).
Relation to document
- Digital Edition
- Digital Translation

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Transcription

Translation

Editor: Hathaway, Jane

Editor: Hathaway, Jane

Translator: Hathaway, Jane (in English)

Translator: Hathaway, Jane (in English)

T-S Ar.38.111 1r

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Jane Hathaway, Ottoman-Era Documents from the Cairo Genizah (Open Book Publishers, 2026).

Recto, main text

Cenāb-i ʿizzet meʾāb-ı saʿādet-niṣāb, bender-i İskenderiyye mültezimi Muʿallim Salmūn ḥażretleri-yi kāmyāb:
Baʿde’s-selām maʿa’l-ʿizz ve’l-ikrām, iʿlām ve inhāʾ olunan budur ki: Ḥālā cānib-i aḥvālimizden suʾāl idersenüz,
el-ḥamdü li-llāh teʿālā ve’l-minne ṣıḥḥatda olub ve sālimīn ve ġānimīn bender-i Reşīd’e gelüb, dāḫil olduḳ şöyle maʿlūmunuz ola. Ve ḥālā
bu muḥibbiniz Mıṣır’da iken tābiʿniz Muʿallim İsḥāḳ geldi ve bize didi ki sizden ötüri biz devletliler ḥużūrlarında sizin
ḥaḳḳınıza kem cevāblar söylüyormuşuz. Hīҫ olur mı ben senün ḥaḳḳına kem cevāblar söyleyim? Benim daḫa dört- beş kīselik
aḫşābım aldılar, biz ise daḫa ziyāde söyledük, eksik söylemedik. Hīç olur mı ben senün ḥaḳḳına kem cevāblar söyleyim?
Ḫuṣūṣan biz sizin ile niҫe ḥaḳḳ-ı ḥuḳūḳumuz vardır. Ve ḳadīmīden dostumuzsuz Allāh’a maʿlūmdur. Ḳanġı devletlinin
ḥużūrunda [sic] varsam, sizin eylüğünüz söylerim. Ve benim rūḥum Sinān Aġa sāḥib-i devlet ḥażretlerine biz Mıṣır’da iken
bir miḳdār gül gönderdiler ve Ḳāsım Aġa’ya bir miḳdār şemʿ-i ʿasel gönderdiler ve maʿan bir mektūb gönderdiler. ʿUlūfesinin
azlıġından ve maṣrūfun çoḳluġundan, ʿĪsā Aġa ise Sinān Aġa’nun mektūbunı ṣāḥib-i devlet ḥażretlerine virmediler, didiler ki
‘Biz kendümüz Muʿallim Salmūn’a mektūb gönderelim, ʿulūfesi üzerine günde onar pāra ziyāde virsünler’ deyü size mektūb yazdılar.
Siz daḫi ʿĪsā Aġa’nun mektūbuna muḫālefet itmeyesiz, bir yerden onar pāra taʿyīn idesiz.

Recto, signature

El-faḳīr
muḥibb-i muḫliṣ [?]
Süleymān
Bostāncı

Recto, right margin, upside-down

Ve sābıḳā size virdiğimiz ḳırḳ şerīfīyi
göndersenüz [[??]] gerek idi. Daḫa göndermedinüz.
Luṭf idüb, bizim ḳırḳ şerīfīyi göndüresiz.
Ve ʿĀmir Ebū ʿAlī oġluna aḫşābı virelim mi?
Ne miḳdār aḫşāb virelim, ana göre bize
bildüresiz, yoḳsa istedüği aḫşābı
virelim mi? Muḥaṣṣalü’l-kelām bize mufaṣṣal
mektūb gönderesiz, ana göre ʿĀmir’e aḫşābı
virelim. Ve Muʿallim Şems’e [?] ve cemīʿ etbāʿnıza
selāmlar ve duʿālar ideriz, ḳabūl buyurıla.
Ve ʿĪsā Aġa’nun mektūbı maʿan irsāl
olunmuşdur şöyle maʿlūmunuz ola. Ve benim rūḥum

Recto, top left, diagonal

1. Ve benim rūḥum Muʿallim Salmūn, maʿlūmunuzdur ki geçende bize mektūb gönderdünüz ve ki
‘ʿImmiyā ʿAlī oġlına bir miḳdār kereste viresiz’ diyüb, iʿlām eylemişsiz.
Ḥālā cezīre-i ʿImmiyā ʿAlī oġlundadır. Sizün mektūbunuz mūcebince keresteleri vire-
lü mi, virmeyelü mü bize bir şāfī cevāb gönderesiz. Ve Meḥmed Aġa’ya daḫi
mektūb gönderdük. Bir miḳdār kereste içün sevvīdan [?]
o temlīk kerestelerinden siz daḫi muʿāvenet idesiz ve sizde
olan ḳırḳ şerīfīyi Meḥmed Aġa’ya viresiz. Sāḳiyelerin [?]
mi memātından sizi ḫalāṣ eyledik.
Siz daḫi bu ḫuṣūṣda muʿāvenet
idesiz.

Jane Hathaway, Ottoman-Era Documents from the Cairo Genizah (Open Book Publishers, 2026).

Recto, main text

To the noble and felicitous tax-farmer of the port of Alexandria, his excellency Muʿallim Salmūn:
After greetings with glory and honour, the announcement and communication are as follows: if you ask about how we are doing,
know that thanks to God the exalted and his goodness, we are well and have come safe and sound to the port of Rosetta and entered it. And now,
while this affectionate friend of yours [i.e., the writer] was in Cairo, your client Muʿallim Isḥāq arrived and accused us
of speaking ill of you in the presence of men of state. Could it ever happen that I would speak ill of you? They also took four or five purses’ worth
of my wood; as for us, we said more, not less. Could it ever happen that I would speak ill of you?
In particular, consider how deep a friendship we have with you. God knows that you have been our friend for a very long time. Whatever man of state’s
presence I enter, I will speak of your goodness. Furthermore, my dear, while we were in Cairo, Sinān Agha sent his excellency the possessor of fortune [i.e., the Ottoman governor of Egypt]
a bunch of roses, and he sent Ḳāsım Agha a bunch of bees- wax candles, and with them he sent a letter. Because his salary
is too little and his expenses too great, ʿĪsā Agha did not give Sinān Agha’s letter to his excellency the governor but
[instead] they wrote you a letter, saying ‘Let’s write a letter to Muʿallim Salmūn ourselves, asking him to increase his [i.e., ʿĪsā Agha’s] salary by ten pāras a day’.
As for you, don’t oppose ʿĪsā Agha’s letter. Allocate the ten pāras from somewhere.

Recto, signature

The poor one,
The sincere friend [?],
Süleymān
Bostāncı

Recto, right margin, upside-down

And you were supposed to send [illegible word crossed out]

the forty [gold] sherīfīs that we had given you previously.
You still haven’t sent them,
[so] please send our forty sherīfīs.
And shall we give the wood to the son of ʿĀmir Abū ʿAlī?
What amount shall we give [him]?
Tell us accordingly; otherwise shall we give him any [amount of] wood he wants?
In short, send us a detailed letter,
and we shall give ʿĀmir the wood accordingly.
We send greetings and prayers to Muʿallim Şems [?] and all your clients,
may they [the prayers] be accepted.
Be aware that [this] was sent with ʿĪsā Agha’s letter.
And my dear

Recto, top left, diagonal

And my dear Muʿallim Salmūn, you know that in the past, you sent us a letter and that
you told us, ‘Give the son of ʿImmiyā ʿAlī a quantity of wood’.
It is still in the village/holding of ʿImmiyā ʿAlī’s son. In ac-

cordance with your letter,
do we givethe wood to him,or do we not give it to him? Send us a clear answer. We also sent a letter to Meḥmed Agha.
For a quantity of wood, equally [?],
you should also provide assistance with wood from that property,
and you should give Meḥmed Agha the forty sherīfīs that you have.
We have saved you from death.
In this matter
you should also provide assistance.

T-S Ar.38.111 1v

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Verso, address

Ḥālā bender-i İskenderiyye mültezimi olan Muʿallim Salmūn’a vāṣıl ola [ ].

Verso, seal

...ilā Allāh
el-faḳīr
Süleymān ibn ʿAbdullāh

Verso, address

May [this letter] reach Muʿallim Salmūn, currently the tax farmer of the port of Alexandria [ ]

Verso, seal

...to God
the poor one,
Süleymān ibn ʿAbdullāh

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T-S Ar.38.111: Provided by Cambridge University Library. Cambridge University Library This image may be used in accord with fair use and fair dealing provisions, including teaching and research. If you wish to reproduce it within publications or on the public web, please contact genizah@lib.cam.ac.uk.