Zolotoordynskoe Obozrenie (Jun 2015)
Verbal Descriptions and Portraits of People in the Crimean Court Books of the 17th–18th centuries »
Abstract
The paper presents current issues of the style of Crimean legal documents (sidzhils) of the 17th–18th centuries. The subject of research is the traditions of making verbal portraits of people, who appear in the court decisions of the Crimean Khanate. The describing of people in the legal practice of the Crimean Khanate wore a traditional character and was not applied to all participants of the process. It also spoke about class inequality in this Muslim country. Such inequality was reflected in similes and metaphors, which were used in the preparation of verbal portrait. Typically, the compilation of some conditional descriptions of people was applied to the slaves who, for various reasons, appeared in court. Usually it would be the case, considering the slave’s redemption or another way of their release.Another way to identify people in the legal documents of the Crimean Khanate was a posting of their name, father’s name and place of residence. For more precise information, sometimes their position was reported in terms that existed in the Crimea in the specified period. As we know, it was time of the Ottoman language and Ottoman terminology. This article contains some examples of judicial decisions for the first time translated into Russian. The author considers the problem of official style in the Crimean Turkic language, which reflected the process of forming and fixing the style of legal chancery in the Crimean court registries of the 17th–18th centuries. Characteristically, the Ottoman written tradition replaced that of the Golden Horde during this period of the Crimean Khanate’s history.
