A Lexical Conundrum: What Happened to Redhouse's Lost Turkish Dictionary?

Abstract

Sir James William Redhouse (1811-1892) is one of the names that comes to mind when Turkish lexicography is the issue. The dictionary and grammar studies of Redhouse which were prepared on Ottoman Turkish still preserve their significance today. Our information is quite limited since there are not many studies on his life and works. A dictionary which is considered to be lost is mentioned in the studies conducted about Redhouse. The information about this dictionary can be accessed only over the letters written by Redhouse to Fuad Pasha, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Kosthaki Musurus Pasha, the ambassador of London. 4 volumes of this dictionary of Redhouse were found by us and it was required to share this information with the world of science. In this article written as based on this reason, information is provided about the mentioned work over the available resources and the letters of Redhouse and a general introduction of these 4 volumes are given. Moreover, the discovery of the volumes and some interesting points about the volumes are also mentioned.