Arabic and Turkish loanwords in Fevzi Mostarac’s Bulbulistan

Abstract

The writer analyses Arabic and Turkish loan words in Bulbulistan. The work was composed in Persian by Fevzi Mostarac in the 18th century and modelled after the celebrated Persian literary classics, primarily Sadi’s Gulistan and Jami’s Baharistan. Fevzi’s Bulbulistan is replete with Arabic words, sentences and expressions. Several examples demonstrate the influence of Arabic grammar on the language of Bulbulistan. The Arabic sentences are mostly citations from the Qur’an and Hadith and serve mainly to support the text that precedes them, but in some cases also to complete a sentence. It is understood that Fevzi knew Turkish well and it is not surprising that in Bulbulistan he quotes a whole poem in Turkish. Some examples demonstrate influences from Turkish grammar, mainly in terms of morphology.