Debīrī : The 17th-Century Jewish Poet who Translated the Psalms into Ottoman Turkish

Abstract Despite extensive research on Ottoman Jews, scholarly attention on their cultural activities has largely remained confined to works produced in Hebrew, Ladino, and Arabic. This article is the inaugural piece in an ongoing series that seeks to showcase the intellectual depth and diversity of Jewish communities within Ottoman society by examining their literary contributions to Turkish in the premodern era. It introduces Debīrī, the earliest known Jewish poet to write in Turkish, and his previously unstudied translation of the first eight Psalms from Hebrew into Ottoman Turkish – the first known translation of the Psalms in this language. After this introduction, the article delves into his translation, comparing it with those of his contemporaries, Ḫākī and ʿAlī Ufḳī, to foster a broader understanding of his linguistic approach and translation methods. It further explores why Ismāʿīl Agha, chief administrator of the Ottoman palace during the reign of Murād IV, commissioned this translation. The article concludes with a full transliteration of Debīrī’s text, thereby offering scholars a solid foundation to conduct further research on the intersection of Jewish and Ottoman Turkish literary traditions.