مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - THE CRITICAL TEXT OF AHMED-I BÎCÂN S VERSIFIED CEVÂHIR-NÂME IN THE LIGHT OF DIFFERENT COPIES

Abstract :

In the fifteenth century the Turkish scholar and mystic Ahmed-i Bîcân composed a versified work that has as its theme the effects and functions of gems. This work, which is given different names in three different copies that had previously been found and in new two copies that we have found ourselves, is of interest insofar as it reflects the period s understanding of the effects of gems on health. The work is written in the Mesnevi poetic style and is made up of forty one distichs. The first six distichs form the introductory section where the following thirty two distichs belong to the section that narrates the topic. The last three distichs complete the work. All of the copies of Ahmed-i Bîcân s work that have been found so far are without diacritical marks. Mistakes and omissions in the different copies which do not give the dates of the composition of the original work or of its copying are indicated in the footnotes. The aim of this study is to produce a complete and correct edition of the text, which is Ahmed-i Bîcân s only known poetic work. This study is composed of three sections: Introduction, Text and Conclusion. The Introduction provides general information about Ahmed-i Bîcân and his versified work and then discusses the studies that have been made about this work so far. Afterwards the copies of the work are introduced and information is given about these copies. When the copies are being introduced emphasis is put on some specific linguistic peculiarities that distinguish each copy from Old Anatolian Turkish or from the other copies. Then follows a description of the methods that have been applied in the establishment of text. The Text section contains the translation of the text. The study is completed with a Conclusion in which the findings are evaluated.