Masraf Defteri
Masraf Defteri (plural: Masraf Defterleri ) is the household book of high Ottoman officials.
etymology
The term is composed of the arab. Loan wordمصرف / maṣraf / 'costs, expenses' and the Defter 'notebook' borrowed from Middle Persian via the Aramaic language from Greek (from Diphteria ) .
function
In the Masraf Defterleri - over various periods of time from one month to several years - all transactions of higher Ottoman officials such as wezirs , governors or palace employees were recorded. These were divided into categories and the expenses were booked accordingly, e.g. B. for clothing, but also household furnishings, or costs for craftsmen and repairs or victuals. If gifts were distributed on religious holidays, these were also recorded in the household books, as were regular wages. However, there are also precise descriptions of the furnishings purchased and records of when, by whom and in what number of items they were purchased.
Finds and evaluation
An exact evaluation of the household books is still pending, hundreds of them are in the Topkapi Palace and in the Ottoman Archives .
literature
- F. Mücke Göçek in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, Volume VI, Brill: Leiden 1991, pp. 745-746
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Wehr: Arabic Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, IV. Edition p. 599
- ↑ Entry in the Enzyclopaedia Iranica online (accessed September 30, 2019)