Lingua Turcica Agemica

Lingua Turcica Agemica is an edition of a Middle Azeri translation of the Gospels of Matthew and John from the end of the 17th century compiled by the French nobleman Balthasar de Lauziere in Isfahan. The manuscript is preserved in the Oriental collection of Johan Gabriel Sparwenfeld (1655-1727) at Carolina Rediviva, Uppsala University Library, Sweden. An introduction relates the story of the manuscripts and their adventurous journey to Uppsala. The text of the Bible translations is published here in transcription with facsimile and grammatical notes. A comprehensive glossary of the lexical and grammatical items is also included. Lingua Turcica Agemica is also the name of a Turkic lingua franca used in Iran, the language of the translation, at the time of the Turkic-speaking Safavids. The volume contains a summary of a short grammar of this Turkic variety, which was written in 1684 by the French Capuchin friar Raphael du Mans' (1613-1696) in Isfahan, as well as its French version by Balthasar de Lauziere.