Description

8°. 20 pp. (introduction), 320 pp., contemporary half red morocco on red cloth (binding slightly worn on the spine and the edges, title page with a clear cut on the inner side, old taxation stamp and old numeration in black ink on the title page, leaves slightly age-toned with minor foxing and tiny tears and loss of paper in the margins otherwise in a good condition).
 

This is one of the groundbreaking dictionaries of the Chagatai language, written by an Uzbek author Sheikh Suleiman Efendi al-Bukhari (1821-1890). A long introduction is followed by over 300 pages of dictionary and explanations.  

Chagatai (جغتای) is a today extinct Turkic language, which was widely spoken in Central Asia between 16th and early 20th century. It was also used as a shared literary language. Chagatai was named after Genghis Khan’s second son, Chagatai Khan, the Khan of the Chagatai Khanate (1225 – 1680s), a descendant empire of the Mongol Empire, which was expanding in the large part of the Central Asia and thus connecting Turkic Peoples with the inhabitants of what is now China and Russia. Today the modern languages closest to Chagatai are Uzbek and Uyghur. 

The author of the book Sheikh Suleiman Efendi al-Bukhari (1821-1890) was an Uzbek diplomat, linguist and author, who was writing poems in Chagatai under a nom de plume Nakşî. 

For his dictionary Sheikh Suleiman Efendi used examples from the poems, written in Chagatai by prominent authors, such as Nevâyî, Baykara, Lutfî, Agehî, Mûnis and Mir Haydar, as well as examples from his own poetry. 

References: OCLC 31332084. Kaman, S. (2019). Şeyh Süleyman Efendi ve “Lugat-i Çağatay ve Türkîi Osmânî”ye tanık olarak katkıları. RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, (16), pp. 69-97.