# Ottoman Turkish: existence of "barid"?



## dudasd

While translating a book about beginnings of Islam, I met (probably Arabic, or maybe Persian?) word *barid* (in English spelling), meaning "*a unit of measure, around 20 miles*". In my language, pronunciation and writing of words of such origin are traditionally based on Osmanli Turkish pronunciation, but this one I couldn't find in dictionaries. So my questions are:
- had the word *barid *existed in Osmanlı Türkçe?
- if it had, what the pronunciation was? (barid, berid, berit...?)

I will highly appreciate spelling in modern Turkish letters. 
Thank you in advance!

PS It also helps if there's a confirmation that the word is of the same root as Ar. *berî* ( بری ) - uzak.


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## tristero

The Redhouse Turkish-English dictionary of 1968 lists "berid" as a "learned" word, with the following meanings:  1.  postal system; mail.  2.  messenger carrying mail, post boy who travels with a courier; animal carrying post.  3.  stage between two posthouses; distance originally of about 6, subsequently 10 or 12 miles.  4.  the gait of a post horse.  berid-i felek: (astr.) moon; Saturn.

The "Osmanli Tarih Deyimleri ve Terimleri Sozlugu" has a lengthy entry on it, inter alia quoting an article by Mehmet Fuat Koprulu in the "Islam Ansiklopedisi" (under "berid"), who states that it is almost certainly derived from the Latin "veredus", meaning "post animal".   It later came to mean a unit of distance as well.  Per this article, the term was current throughout the Islamic world starting in the first century of Islam. It also says there were differences in terms of the distance from one place to another.

Both Redhouse and the "Tarih Deyimleri Sozlugu" show the spelling as:  برید


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## dudasd

Thank you very much! This was a great help!


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## avok

By the way, it is Osmanlı Türkçesi


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## dudasd

Thanks Avok, I am never sure about it. I really find both in titles of dictionaries (like "Osmanlı Türkçe Sözlük" or "Osmanlı Türkçesi Sözluğu). Unfortunately, this is off-topic and I don't dare to ask the direct question, but if you are willing to explain the difference in a new thread... it could be very useful for us learners.  (And I thought I grasped all the combinations of possessive forms...  )


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## avok

Are you sure Osmanlı Türkçe Sözlük exists? Hmmm it sounds familiar though. Anyway I dont know how to explain it. It must be like this, I hope you'll understand:

Osmanlı - "Türkçe Sözlük" : Ottoman -Turkish Dictionary
Osmanlı Türkçesi - "Sözlüğü" : Dictionary of - Ottoman Turkish


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## Grosvenor1

Theoretically at least, _any _Arabic or Persian word could find its way into Ottoman Turkish. That Redhouse dictionary combined modern Turkish with many Ottoman words, with the Arabic script form for the latter next to the Roman. 

I have seen Ottoman Turkish dictionaries in Turkey, though the ones I have seen tend to give the words in Roman script.


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## dudasd

Actually, I am using Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kanar's dictionary with explanations in Turkish (so it comes to Osmanlı - Türkçe category, thank you Avok, now I understood the difference  ), but somehow he failed to give that meaning of berîd... Thank you all!


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## Edguoglitigin

*Berîd* is *"postman, messenger"* in Osmanlıca-Türkçe Ansiklopedik Lugat of Ferit Devellioğlu.


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