Summary View

Country

France

City

Paris

Institution

Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Collection

Manuscrits turcs supplément turc

Shelfmark

428

Contents

Ḥikāyet-i Erba‘īn Ṣubḥ u Mesā (Aḥmed-i Mıṣrī (d. after 850/1446))

Author

Aḥmed-i Mıṣrī (d. after 850/1446)

ﺍﺣﻤﺪِ ﻣﺼﺮﻲ

Show other names

Aḥmed-i Mıṣrī, d. after 850/1446 (authorised)

ﺍﺣﻤﺪِ ﻣﺼﺮﻲ (variant)

Biographical notes

Fifteenth century author who presented the first Turkish translation of the no longer extant Arabic corpus of stories of the Forty Viziers to Murād II in 850 AH [1446 CE]. He used to be considered the same person as Şeyḫ-zāde, who also presented a different version of the same corpus of stories to Murād II and Meḥmed II.

Title

Ḥikāyet-i Erba‘īn Ṣubḥ u Mesā

ﺣﻛﺎﻳﺖِ ﺍﺭﺑﻌﻴﻦ ﺻﺒﺢ ﻭ ﻣﺴﺎ

Notes

In the introduction, the work is presented as a translation from Arabic, although some scholars disagree, stating that pre-existing Islamic story collections were used in the production of an original collection. In one manuscript (Bibliothèque Nationale, Manuscrits turcs, no. 378), the date of composition is followed by the date of 533 AH [1138 CE], interpreted in the catalogue as a possible date of composition for the Arabic original. Story collections known under the name Forty Viziers exist in the Indian, Persian and Arabic lands. The frame story of all of these resembles that of the Sindbād-nāma. Scholars have also pointed to borrowings from the corpus of the One Thousand and One Nights. In the frame story, the king of Persia is seduced by the tales of his conniving young wife into killing his son, while the king’s forty viziers try to dissuade him also by telling stories. The work consists of 80 stories, forty of them told by the wife, forty told by the viziers. Each story ends in counsels, thus teaching about the responsibilities of the shah towards his wife and son.

The date of composition is 850 AH [1446 CE].

Dedicatee: Murād II

Main language of text

Turkish

Bibliography

Editions

Behrnauer, Walter Fr. Adolf. Die Vierzig Veziere Oder Weisen Meister, Ein Altmorgenländischer Sittenroman Aus Dem Türkischen. Leipzig: Druck und Verlag von B.G. Teubner, 1851.

Kızıltan, Mübeccel. "Kırk Vezir Hikâyeleri." PhD Dissertation, Istanbul University, 1991.

Studies

Belletête, Henry Nicolas. Contes Turcs En Langue Turque, Extraits Du Roman Intitulé Les Quarante Vizirs. Paris: De Bure, 1812.

Birinci, Aziz. "Kırk Vezir Hikâyeleri (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük)." Phd Dissertation, Istanbul University, 2012.

Birinci, Aziz. "Kırk Vezir Hikâyeleri’nin Türk Dili ve Edebiyatındaki Yeri ve Önemi." In VIII. Milletlerarası Türkoloji Kongresi 30 Eylül-04 Ekim 2013 İstanbul Bildiri Kitabı / VIII: International Turcology Congress 30 September-04 October 2013 Istanbul Book of Papers. Istanbul: İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi, 2014, 217-238.

Burrill, Kathleen. "Sheykh-oghlu, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muṣṭafā." EI. 9 1997: 418-419.

Duda, H. W.. Die Sprache der Qyrq Vezir-Erzählungen. Leipzig: Eduard Pfeiffer, 1930.

Gibb, E. J. W.. The History of the Forty Vezirs or the Story of the Forty Morns and Eves. London: George Redway, 1886.

Gülsevin, Gürer. "Kırk Vezir Hikâyeleri." In Beşinci milletlerarası Türkoloji kongresi : tebliğler : I. Türk dili. Istanbul: İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Türkiyat Araştırma Merkezi, 1985, 117-126.

Kavruk, Hasan. Eski Türk Edebiyatında Mensur Hikâyeler. Ankara: Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı Yayınları, 1998, 109-116.

Kavruk, Hasan. "Kırk Vezir Hikâyelerinde Kadın." İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı Dergisi. 30 2003: 263-303.

Kızıltan, Mübeccel. "Kırk Vezir." TDVİA. 25 2002.

Petit de la Croix, François. L’histoire de la sultane de Perse et des vizirs. Paris: H. Champion, 2006. (first edition: 1722)

Show filiations

Bibliothèque Nationale de France 388

Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi 1081

British Library 7882

Bibliothèque Nationale de France 378

Bibliothèque Nationale de France 430

Bibliothèque Nationale de France 432

Bibliothèque Nationale de France 431

National Library 93

National Library 197

Physical Description

Number of folios

257 ff.

History

Date of copy

20th. century