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Mirzə Fətəli Axundzadə (Russ. Akhundov) (1812–78) was a groundbreaking playwright, literary critic, journalist, language reformer, and poet from Azerbaijan. Axundzadə wrote in Azerbaijani, Persian, and Russian. Some of his works have come down in more than one language; some editions do not specify the original language(s). After receiving a traditional Islamic education, Axundzadə became interested in Russian culture in the early 1830s. In 1834, he met the poet Mirzə Şəfi Vazeh (d. 1852), who encouraged him to give up his plans of becomi…

Baba is a title of uncertain origin used for spiritual leaders amongst Turkic and some other peoples, which apparently appears first in New Persian. A connection with the name of Bābak Khurramī (d. 223/838) is phonetically, geographically, and chronologically possible and semantically reasonable but remains unproven and speculative. Mandarin 爸爸 ( bàba, “father”) is phonetically and semantically congruent and chronologically and geographically another possible source, but the word is absent from Classical Chinese. Baba does not appear in the second/eighth-century Turk…

Azerbaijani (Azeri, Ādherī)  literature is characterised by an idiosyncratic combination of influences from Turkic and European cultures that have shaped it for more than 600 years. The definition of Azerbaijani literature is often contested, as the Azerbaijani language (Azeri) was virtually indistinguishable from other Western Oghuz dialects (such as Old Ottoman) in its earliest stages. This is demonstrated by Qazi Bürhanəddin/Kaḍı (Qāḍī) Burhaneddin (Qāḍī Burhān al-Dīn, d.c. 800/1398), who lived in Anatolia but whose…

The first Azerbaijani qəzəls appear in the eighth/fourteenth or perhaps at the end of the seventh/thirteenth century, such as those written by Həsənoğlu (fl. seventh/thirteenth century). By then, the term qəzəl was already firmly established in its two main genres: the semantic (love poetry), and the formal (a genre of short əruz [əruz /Arabic ʿarūḍ] poetry with an “aa ba ca…” rhyme pattern). By this time qəzəls had been considerably extended from their original erotic basis, demonstrated by the religio-philosophical themes in Həsənoğlu’s extant works. However…

Xǝtai (Khaṭāʾī) is the pen name of Shāh Ismāʿīl I (Şah İsmayıl, r. 907–30/1501–24), the founder of the Ṣafavid dynasty and one of the most influential Azerbaijani poets. An obvious translation of the nom de plume Xǝtai is “the mistaken one.” In this sense, the name seems to reflect remorse, possibly about own mistakes that have been committed in the past. Shāh Ismāʿīl I used his native Azerbaijani language (Azeri) for the bulk of his work. His divan ( dīvān, collection of one poet’s poems) in Azerbaijani is composed in the ǝ ruz (ʿarūḍ) system, based on syllable length. However, several…

Kadı Burhaneddin (Qāḍī Burhān al-Dīn) (745–c.800/1345–98) was an eminent eighth/fourteenth-century Anatolian ruler, poet, and author. “Burhaneddin” is an epithet meaning “the proof of the correct ritual practice,” and the title kadı ( qāḍī, judge) refers to his early profession. His original name was Ahmed (Aḥmed). Of Oghuz Turkic descent, Burhaneddin was born on 3 Ramazan (Ramaḍān) 745/8 January 1345 into a family of judges in the Anatolian town of Kayseri. Political turmoil following the death of Kayseri’s overlord, Eretna (d. 753/1352–3…

Abdulla Şaiq (Abdulla Mustafa oğlu  Talıbzadə, 24 February 1881–24 July 1959) was an Azerbaijani educator, writer, playwright, and translator. He was born in Tiflis and attended the elementary school of the Spiritual Directorate of Caucasian Muslims at Tiflis from 1888 to 1893. From 1894 to 1900 he studied at a Muslim  madrasa at Mashhad, Iran. In addition to his native Azerbaijani language, he had a command of Russian, Arabic, and Persian. In 1901 he began teaching at the Imperial Grammar School of Baku. From the beginning of the twentieth cen…

Əhməd Cavad Məhəmmədəli oğlu  Axundzadə (1892–1937) was an Azerbaijani poet, writer, translator, and political activist. He was born on 5 May 1892 in Seyfəli, about fifteen kilometres west of Gəncə (Ganja), Azerbaijan. After receiving a traditional religious education and studying the Arabic and Persian languages and literatures, he graduated from the Gəncə Muslim religious college in 1912 and then worked as a teacher in that college. During the Balkan Wars and the First World War, Əhməd Cavad volu…

Hǝbibi (Ḥabībī, c.874–c.914/c.1470–c.1519), an Azerbaijanian poet, is thought to have been born in a village called Bǝrgüşad, in Göyçay, Azerbaijan, around 874/1470. He gained the favour of the Akkoyunlu (Āq Qoyūnlū) ruler Yakub (Yaʿqūb, r. 882–95/1478–90). After 907/1502, he became a Ṣafavid court poet, and Shāh İsmāʿīl (r. 907–30/1501–24) named him malekoʾsh-shoʿarā ( māliku sh-shuʿarā, “king of poets”). He probably came to Istanbul from Tabriz in 919/1514, perhaps as a result of the Ottoman occupation of the Ṣafavid capital. From then until his death, Hǝbibi lived in Istanbul. T…

Aşıq Pəri (c. 1811–35) was a pioneering female Azerbaijani folk poet  (aşıq) from Qarabağ.  Pəri (“fairy”) was the poet’s  nom de plume, and her real name remains unknown, as are her birth and death dates. Some limited historical information, such as Adolph Bergé’s personal meeting with her in 1827, allow for an approximate determination of her lifespan (1811–35 is widely assumed). Her place of birth is conventionally assumed to have been the village of Maralyan in the former khanate of Qarabağ, where she also be…

Əbdürrəhim  bəy Əsəd bəy oğlu  Haqverdiyev (17 May 1870 N.S.–11 December 1933) was an influential Azerbaijani playwright, prose writer, translator, stage director, and politician. He was born in Ağbulaq, near Şuşa (Susa), in Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan), and attended public school in Şuşa and Tiflis (Tbilisi). He audited classes in the Oriental Department of St Petersburg University (1891–9) and worked for that city’s Muslim Welfare Association (1895–9). In 1901 he settled in Baku. From 1904 to 190…

Abdalan-ı Rum (Abdālān-ı Rūm, from the Tu. sing.  abdal) refers to “dervishes” coming from Rum, the former Roman territories of Anatolia. They are historical figures who lived from the seventh/thirteenth century until about the end of the ninth/fifteenth century. The  literature about them is often legendary. Of the few of their literary works that have been preserved, most are posthumously recorded hagiographies or utterances only ascribed to individual figures. Much of this literature was apparently handed down orally for some tim…

The characteristics of the qəsidə (kaside) in Azerbaijani literature resemble those of the Ottoman kaside (qaṣīde), and therefore also of their Persian and Arabic counterparts. On the formal side, the Azerbaijani qəsidə is guided by a set of rules similar to those used in these languages. Yet, some terminological particularities exist. For instance, the main section of the Azerbaijani qəsidə, which contains the actual praise, is called qǝsd. The strongest direct influence on the Azerbaijani qəsidə came from the Persian qaṣīda. However, many Azerbaijani poets are credited wi…

Əli bəy Hüseyn bəy oğlu Hüseynzadə (1864–1940) was an Azerbaijani political activist, writer, physician and professor of medicine, teacher, musicologist, and painter. He was born into a family of Islamic teachers on 24 February 1864 in Salyan, eastern Azerbaijan. He attended elementary school (1870–5) and grammar school (1875–85) in Tiflis (Tbilisi) and studied mathematics and physics in St Petersburg (1885–9) and military medicine in Istanbul (1890–5). He worked as a dermatologist in the Ottoman cap…

Fazli (Faḍlī, “belonging to munificence or abundance”), an Ottoman poet, was the son of Fuzuli (Fuḍūlī, d. 963/1556). His nom de plume is an apparent tribute to the pen name of his father, who gave him much of his education as a poet. Fazli’s date of birth is unknown, but it must have been some time before 963/1556, the year of his father’s death. ʿAhdī’s  Tezkire, completed in 971/1563–4, describes Fazli as an already mature poet. This probably means that he was then around twenty years old, making his birth date circa 1543. An anonymous Persian  qiṭʿa—ascribed by some to Fuzuli and ment…

Bashkir is a Turkic language (self-designation, in Latin orthography, Başqort tele) with more than 1.5 million speakers in Russia. Most of them live in the Volga-Ural region, partly in the theoretically sovereign Republic of Bashkortostan (Başqortostan), where Bashkir is one of the official languages, the other being Russian. The closest linguistic cognate of Bashkir is (Kazan) Tatar, with which Bashkir has strong genetic and areal ties. Both languages are to a high degree mutually intelligible. Other nea…

Fatma xanım Kǝminǝ (Fāṭma khānım Kemīne, 1256–1315/1841–98), was an Azerbaijani poet from Karabagh (a historical region and former khanate in Western Azerbaijan). Her pen name, Kǝminǝ, can be translated as “the Humble One,” and she is also known by the hypocoristic form of address Fatı xanım. Fatma xanım was born in the Mǝrdinli quarter of the Azerbaijani town of Şuşa (the old metropolis of the Karabagh Khanate) in 1256/1841, and her father, Ağamirzǝ bǝy (1211–83/1787–1867), was an accomplished poet who used the pen name Fǝna ( fenāʾ, evanescence). She was educated in her native …

The elegy, a poem or song bemoaning and commemorating a dead person, is generally considered to be a widespread genre of traditional Turkic (including Ottoman and Turkish) literature. Among the Turkic peoples, elegies may very broadly be divided into folkloristic and more literary subgenres. As for poetic form, generalizations are difficult due to the long history of the genre and the wide and culturally non-homogeneous geographical area concerned. Quite naturally given the subject, most Turkic elegies are longer than a stanza and comparable in average length to the ghazal (traditi…

Abbasqulu Əlabbas oğlu  Mehdizadə ( Abbas Səhhət, 1874–1918) was an Azerbaijani poet, writer, journalist, and translator. His pen name Səhhət means “health,” referring to the poet’s medical career and the supposedly healing effect of his work. Mehdizadə was born in the town of Şamaxı, in 1874. From 1894 to 1900, he studied at various religious schools ( madrasas) in Iran. He gained a degree in ophthalmology from Tehran University. In 1900–1, he worked as an ophthalmologist at a local notable’s court in Iran. From 1906 until his death, he worked as a language teacher in his hometown. Abbas…

İmadǝddin Nǝsimi (ʿİmādǝddīn Nǝsīmī d. c.821/1418–9) is considered to be the true founder of Azerbaijani (Turkic) classical ǝruz (ʿarūḍ) poetry; he wrote in Persian, Oghuz Turkic, and occasionally Arabic. According to some sources, including Sibṭ Ibn al-ʿAjamī (d. 818/1415), Nǝsimi’s given name was ʿAlī. The etymology of Nǝsimi, his most frequently used makhlaṣ (pen name), is contested, but most convincingly explained as an echo of Naʿīmī, the pen name of Faḍlallāh Astarābādī (d. 796/1394). Less often, Nǝsimi also used the makhlaṣ Ḥüseynī. Frequently, the laqab (epithet) İmadǝd…