Dervish Sali Ashkiu and his copy of Divan by Nezim Berati in Albanian
In 1847, in the town of Tepelena a dervish named Sali Ashki copied the Divan in Albanian by Nezim Berati, created in the first half of the 18th century. During copying process, Dervish Sali Ashkiu makes efforts for enrichment of Albanian, by replacing some Turkish words with Albanian words and carri...
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | Albanian English |
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Albanian Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization
2024
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| Online Access: | https://albanica.al/univers/article/view/4341 |
| Summary: | In 1847, in the town of Tepelena a dervish named Sali Ashki copied the Divan in Albanian by Nezim Berati, created in the first half of the 18th century. During copying process, Dervish Sali Ashkiu makes efforts for enrichment of Albanian, by replacing some Turkish words with Albanian words and carried out some modifications limited in number to adapt the archaic speech of Nezim to the Albanian spoken by the readers of his time. In addition, he intervenes in the structure of the content of the work by adding to Divan in Albanian two other poems, a gazel in Turkish and an ilahi in Persian, which he extracted by the Divan in Turkish and Divan in Persian of Nezim. In this way Dervis Sali Ashkiu unlike other copiers up to his time undertook the role of an editor, who prepares the work for a specific readership audience. This may well say that the dervish Sali Ashkiu is the first in the history of Albanian letters who has started work on editing of Albanian literature written in Arabic script.This enabled the copy produced by him (which today is stored in AQSH (CAA)) to enjoy a considerable recognition in intellectual circles of the time, both in the Albanian lands and outside them. Furthermore, it is also used by the Sami Frasheri in drafting his venture Collection of old and new Albanian songs, (Istanbul, June 4 1882). But who was Dervish Sali Ashkiu? So far we have not any other information than that that can be revealed from the copy of Divan in Albanian of the Nezim. From the work done during copying and interferences in the text it is very well understood that Dervish Sali Ashkiu has been very good promoter of the witten Albanian, very good connoisseur of Nezim’s creativity in Albanian, Turkish and Persian; master of major Orient languages (Arabic, Persian, Turkish) and poetry of Eats and literature of Divan in particular. Whereas by the note in the margin of page 34b, we learn that in 1847 he lived in town of Tepelena and was dervish. However, except the name of the town, he does not provide any explanation ... |
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