by Felix Ordeig, AIB
This post is a brief introduction to the DRAGOMANS – not a class of élite warriors nor an extinct animal, but the name given to interpreters in the Ottoman Empire, which collapsed in 1922, after its defeat in the First World War. Its successor state is the modern Republic of Turkey. I am indebted to Elvin ABBASBEYLI, an Azeri colleague who has written and researched on the subject, and several Turkish interpreters who mentioned them during informal conversations. If I recall correctly, they are also briefly mentioned in the evocative novel, Birds Without Wings, by Louis De Bernières.
When two States wish to establish relations with each they almost always require the assistance of individuals fluent in languages who can help diplomats accomplish their mission. In the Ottoman Empire these interpreters and translators were called “dragomans”. Their history is linked to the beginning of regular relations between Western countries and the Ottoman Empire, and beyond the sphere of specialists the Dragoman are little known, even amongst interpreters, and yet they were very important in the history of Europe in the Eastern Mediterranean
The history of diplomatic translation and interpretation in the Ottoman Empire is tightly linked to the Dragoman, and they could be considered to be the founding fathers of the translation and interpretation profession in the Ottoman Empire and later in Turkey. This history began with the first contacts and the first treaties signed with Western powers.
In 1454, one year after the Ottomans seized Constantinople, turned it into their capital and later renamed it Istanbul, the Republic of Venice, at the time an important power in the Eastern Mediterranean, sent an ambassador to the Ottoman court (known as the Sublime Porte, or Sublime Gate; the Emperor was known as the Sultan). After Venice and up to 1615, Poland, the Russian and Austrian Empires, France, England and a newly independent Holland also sent ambassadors to establish relations with the Ottoman Empire.
Before looking at who they were, their background and what their duties consisted of, let us look at the origin of the word “DRAGOMAN”.
Several theories exist as to the origin of the word “dragoman”. This ancient word of Syriac origin, was borrowed by Arabic (tardjumān) and then by Turkish (tercüman), and then made its way into Latin (turchimannus) and romance languages, such as Italian (drogmano), French (drogman, truchement), Spanish (truchimán), and even Catalan (torsimany) plus also Slavic and Germanic tongues. (A Turkish synonym was dilmaç, from where the German word dolmetscher may come). Although the word tercüman was used in Ottoman documents to refer to interpreter-translators from embassies and consulates, it was the word dragoman which was used in nearly all European languages although its spelling and pronunciation varied from one language to the next.
The Ottoman Empire and the Western diplomatic missions in Istanbul needed individuals fluent in both Western and Oriental languages who also mastered the cultural differences and codes of behavior of both Ottomans and Westerners. In Europe, such individuals were known as “DRAGOMANS” or increasingly “DROGMANS”. Their tasks were very varied: political and commercial translation and interpretation between the Sublime Porte and the ambassadors and consuls of Western powers. Veritable dragoman dynasties appeared in the Levant – the historical/geographical name given to the Eastern mediterranean – passing the skills from one generation to the next. They were present in the areas under Ottoman control and continued to carry out their tasks until the end of the Empire after the end of WW 1. Within the Ottoman Empire two main categories of dragomans existed:
* First of all, the Dragoman of the Sultan’s Imperial Court, who were civil servants of the Ottoman Empire and were also known as “Grand Drogmans” in the West. They held very high posts (with which also came very high risks!). During certain periods, they held the second most important position after that of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Grand Drogmans of the Sublime Porte were a sort of head interpreter-translators overseeing a team of translators and interpreters. They could be compared to translators and interpreters working for presidents and ministries in the modern world.
The Grand Drogman’s work included:
- Interpreting meetings between foreign envoys and the Grand Vizier (equivalent to a Prime Minister).
- Participating in the Grand Vizier’s meetings with foreign envoys and drafting summaries of such meetings.
- Taking part in Ottoman delegations sent abroad.
- Interpreting during bilateral negotiations.
- Drafting and translating any correspondence sent to and received from Western powers.
The power of the Grand Drogmans grew with time; from the 18th century onwards they took part in actual negotiations. Thus, all diplomatic activity in the Ottoman Empire was concentrated in the hands of the Grand Drogmans. In this way, they became the most important civil servants in Ottoman diplomacy.
In the 16th and up to the end of the 17th centuries, as Ottoman power spread not just in the Eastern Mediterranean, but also in large parts of Central Europe, Grand Drogmans were chosen from among the German, Hungarian, Italian and other communities in territories under Ottoman domination, which included all the Balkans stretching almost as far as Vienna. In 1660, with the appointment of Panayotis Nicousios as Grand Drogman, it was the Greeks who began to hold this prestigious post and would continue to do so until the Greek War of Independence of 1821. It should be pointed out that members of the Christian community, both Orthodox and Roman Catholic, often shared until the mid-17th century the roles of Grand Drogman of the Empire and Grand Drogman of the Imperial Fleet and Army. Though non-Muslims (with names such as Pisani or Timoni) in a state where Islam was the majority religion, they wielded great power, influence and enjoyed wealth and prestige.
* Secondly, the Western powers which established missions – embassies or consulates – in the Ottoman Empire needed people who spoke their own language as well as the language used by Ottoman authorities. These drogmans acted as secretary-interpreters who translated documents as well as meetings with representatives of the Ottoman administration. They accompanied diplomats and lived in embassies or consulates.
At first, foreign missions recruited them from among the families of minority Christian communities in several historical neighbourhoods in Istanbul, inhabited by Orthodox Greeks and by Latins as mentioned above. However, soon Western countries began to train their own drogmans since they did not trust local ones. “Local” drogmans were subjects of the Sultan and as such their loyalty was sometimes questioned. Their imperfect knowledge of French – at the time the universal language of diplomacy – also constituted a risk during negotiations.
One of the reasons why at first Westerners chose their drogmans from among these families was due to the fact that, according to Ottoman traditions based on Islam, it was frowned upon for Muslim subjects of the Empire to learn European languages or to spend too much time in the West; westerners were considered to be infidels, and Christian states were seen as inferior to Muslim ones. Ottomans also had a superiority complex, and Sultans, grand viziers and top officials often demeaned emissaries of Western countries. All of the above may be among the reasons that, until the second half of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire had never opened an embassy in any Western country.
That is how the idea came about to recruit young children in order to teach them Oriental languages from an early age. Also with the increase in relations between the Ottoman Empire and Western powers, there were no longer enough drogmans to fulfill demand.
Beginning in the mid-sixteenth century, Venice sent young children to Istanbul to train them as drogmans. Soon other countries followed suit; in the early seventeenth century a French religious order set up a school in the city to teach French, Turkish, Latin, Italian and Vulgar Greek. The school trained the first group of drogmans to serve France, and shortly afterwards the French Government set up the “School for young linguists” to train drogmans there. Tuition was free, subsidized by the French state and French Chambers of Commerce, the goal being to avoid having to recruit drogmans only from local families.
So young children from Western countries and from the territories of the Ottoman Empire received an education and learned Turkish, Arabic and Persian; after their training, they were known as “language children”.
As time went by, these students, once graduated, made up an integral part of diplomatic links by becoming not only translators and interpreters between the Sublime Porte and emissaries of Western powers, but also specialists in Oriental civilizations, having to translate ancient Turkish, Arabic and Persian manuscripts as mandatory exercises. This policy of translation was part of a wider movement of acquiring Oriental works in a well-planned and orderly fashion. Most of these translations are currently kept at the National Library of France.
The British also tried to train drogmans specifically for the British embassy in Constantinople. The school of Greek at Oxford University was to receive young Greeks into the Anglican religion, to ensure their loyalty; however this proved problematic with both the Greek Orthodox Church and Ottoman imperial authorities.
To conclude: through their familiarity of Muslim civilization, and the Ottoman Empire and its languages, Drogmans/Dragomans played a key role in the transfer of knowledge and ideas between the Ottomans and the West. An interesting and little known tale about the importance of interpreters, who at the time enjoyed much prestige – unlike now, some might argue
