Abstract
The Uses of The Word ‘Simya’ in Ottoman Poetry
Ottoman poetry has inherited former Arabic and Persian
poetry traditions and built a poetry on them specific
to itself. Besides, the common cultural geography, which
has been founded around Islam culture, has brought the
collection of three different language around a similar
mentality. Ottoman poetry has benefited from the mindset
world of this common culture –a lot more than Persian
poetry tradition– and transferred the scientific intelligence
of the period to poetry.
Secret disciplines, known as occultic sciences, have been
accepted in the Sufi society and among the Shia masters at
first, and then, spread to the other layers of society. Those
disciplines has found a place for themselves in many of the
texts of Ottoman poetry with both their concepts and
practices. When those disciplines and their concepts cannot
be understood correctly, this makes literary texts difficult
to analyze.
Simya, magic/sorcery, alchemy and huruf (letter(s)) are
sister sciences. It is seen that among these four Hermetic
disciplines especially the words ‘simya’ and ‘alchemy’ are
confused in modern Turkish. This situation reflects on the
understanding of Ottoman poetry texts, as well. The idea
of simya being a discipline that is in the pursuit of turning
copper into gold does not find a place in the texts. In this
paper, the context of the word ‘simya’ in Arabic, Persian
and Turkish dictionaries is investigated, and it is tried to
reveal that in what meanings it is used in Ottoman poetry
texts.
Keywords
Simya, Alchemy, Science of Letters, Sorcery, Ottoman Poetry