Languages of the Ottoman Empire

Common card · No. 456050

The language of the court and government of the Ottoman Empire was Ottoman Turkish, but many other languages were actually spoken throughout the huge empire. The Ottomans had three main languages, known as "Alsina-i Thalātha" (The Three Languages), that were common to Ottoman readers: Ottoman Turkish, Arabic and Persian. Turkish was spoken by the majority of the people in Anatolia; Persian was initially a literary and high-court language used by the educated in the Ottoman Empire before being displaced by Ottoman Turkish; and Arabic, which was the legal and religious language of the empire, was also spoken regionally, mainly in Arabia, North Africa, Mesopotamia and the Levant. Although the minorities of the Ottoman Empire were free to use their language amongst themselves, if they needed to communicate with the government they had to use Ottoman Turkish. Some ordinary people had to hire special "request-writers" (arzuhâlcis) to be able to communicate with the government. In small towns...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain