Mecmû'atü'l-Mühendisîn (Giriş-İnceleme-Metin-Dizin)

Abstract

This master thesis was carried on the study of Mecmûʿatüʾl-Mühendisîn written by Hüseyin Rıfkı Tâmânî who is the head hodja of Mühendishâne-i Berrî-i Hümâyûn in the Selim III’s period within the context of applying the geometry in the practical field. In that manner, the book named Mecmûʿatüʾl-Mühendisîn registered in the National Library of Turkey with the location number EHT 1966 A 796, dated 1274 H/1858 was studied. Notably having language characteristics of the period as the 19th century’s Classical Ottoman Turkish language heritage, this study contains significant materials regarding the scientific terminology in mathematics and engineering fields. In addition, this study has provided valuable data that serves the scientific understanding in that century. Since being the first comprehensive Turkish book written in the field of engineering, it also enlightens the use of Turkish as a scientific language in the 19th century.

The study consists of four parts: introduction, analysis, text and index. In the "Introduction" section; after mentioning the role of Mühendishâne and teachers of Mühendishâne aspect of the Ottoman scientific tradition, information regarding the life and works of the author of the study, the subject, content and copies of the study; the searches and persons that were the source of the preparation of his studies was given. Also, the importance of the book named Mecmûʿatüʾl-Mühendisîn in terms of the history of the Turkish language is mentioned. In the "Analysis" section, the language and spelling characteristics of the book were examined. In the "Text" section, the study has been transferred to Latin letters. In addition to that, there are two main subindexes named a general index and a term index. In the general index, the words that form the text are arranged in alphabetical order and have been given meaning by looking at their in-text context. In the index of terms which engineering and mathematics terms are presented together, the headings of the articles that we consider as terms are arranged alphabetically, and it is tried to be presented with more detailed explanations than the general index and to be exemplified with in-text quotations.