Doğu Türkçesiyle Yazılmış Acâibü’l-Mahlûkat Tercümeleri

Abstract

Acâib-al-Mahlûkats show how people perceive the universe, and beings in the universe, providing encyclopedic information about them. These works also reflect the geography and cosmography of the period in which they were written. Appearing for the first time in a Persian language work written by Abu'l-Hüseyin Abdurrahman bin Ömer as-Sufi, Acâib-al-Mahlûkats became widespread in Arabic and Turkish literature over time. Scholars now agree that Acâib-al-Mahlûkats, which emerged in Turkish literature in the 15th century and have been translated at different times and places since then, constitute a popular narrative tradition in Turkish literature. Written in both western and eastern Turkish, Acâib-al-Mahlûkats contain important information about the Turkish language and the nation’s cultural history. This study, presents an overview of Acâib-al-Mahlûkats written in western Turkish to draw attention to those written in eastern Turkish. Afterward, several authors wrote in this genre in eastern Turkish, of which some examples still exist: the translation of Bannai bin Muhammed Herevî, translations of Acâib-al-Mahlûkats by unknown translators and Sultan Muhammed bin Dervis Muhammed-al-Mufti-al-Belkhi's Persian works in this field providing more information about this genre. The translations of Acâibal-Mahlûkat narratives written in western and eastern Turkish are important because these narratives form a common narrative tradition for eastern and western Turkish.