# meanings of okutmak



## dudasd

I have this sentence (Iskender Pala again...):

"Onlar Fuzûlî’nin Muhammed peygambere ithaf ettiği şiirlerini okurken biz de onun L&M’ini okuyor, hazineleri okutuyor olacağız."

Some context - a secret association has been pursuing a hidden treasure for ages. The code that opened the secret door leading to that treasure was hidden in Fuzuli's book _Leyla and Mecnun_. Now they have decoded the ciphers and located the secret door, so they are talking about the nearing Kurban Bayram, when all the workers and diggers will go to their villages to celebrate, and then they will be able to enter the hidden crypt with no other witnesses. But they will have three days only to do it, because the workers will be back by then.

But I am stuck with "okutmak". I see it also can mean "sell" in slang, but slang doesn't really fit here, and more important, three days in the middle of an empty desert certainly wouldn't mean ideal conditions for palming off tons of gold. Otherwise, I find _okutmak_ as teach, instruct etc.

So, what they will be doing with the treasure?

"While they are reading the poems that Fuzuli has dedicated to Muhammad the Messenger, we will be reading his _Leyla and Mecnun _and ??????? the treasure."

("Muhammad the Messenger" is a rough translation of the proper formulation in our language, so don't pay attention at that.)

Thank you in advance!


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## boggiee

_Okutmak_ in that sentence means _to palm off._


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## Rallino

Okutmak = to teach, in this context. Literally: we will be making our children read his treasures. 

Hazineleri (his treasures) is referring to his works, his poems etc.

On a side note, as I read your abbreviation "L&M" - I thought of the cigarette brand. I was like WHAT.


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## dudasd

The trouble is that "hazineleri" in this case can be also the real treasure - golden idols that had been hidden in Ishtar's temple, and which they (the Society) found now, thanks to the cyphers hidden in Fuzuli's _Leyla and Mecnun. _But one part of that treasure are also tablets holding calculations and knowledge of ancient Chaldeian astronomers. Maybe they mean that knowledge as "treasures"?

As for the palming the golden idols off, yes, they plan to sell them later, but it will need to be an internationally organized enterprize, and the author is talking about these three days, while the workers and diggers are celebrating Kurban Bayram.

In short, I have no idea what the author meant to say.

(The author has decided to write L&M as an association to "elem" - "suffering", but I had the red box in front of my mind eye all the while, yes.  )


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## boggiee

I think I have found the text:

... Koldewey'in seyyah Strabo ve Diodor'un kitaplarını tekrar tekrar okuyup Babil hakkında yeni yeni bilgiler aradığı yahut bulduğu eşyalar ve duvarlar ile bu bilgileri örtüştürdüğü gecelerden birinde çadırına altı konuk birden geldi. Bunlar iki yıl evvel Bağdat'ta tanıdığım BC üyeleriydi. Hepsini kendim kadar sabırsız ve heyecanlı gördüm. Paris'te, Londra'da, Roma'da üniversite adları söylüyorlar, *tabletleri *oradan gelecek yedi ayrı bilim adamına ve arkeologa inceletmekten, üzerindeki çizimleri ayrı ayrı çözdürdükten sonra Brüksel veya Cenevre'de kurulacak BUAM'da çalışmalara başlayacaklarından bahsediyorlardı. Ama bir problem vardı; işçilere sezdirmeden *tabletleri *nasıl çıkaracak ve nasıl sınır dışına götüreceklerdi?

"Tabletler için bunu dert edinmeyiniz saygı değer şövalyeler!" dedi Koldewey, "Bu adamların *altın*dan başka düşündükleri yahut tamah ettikleri hiçbir şey yok. *Hele tabletler onların umurunda değil!*" "O halde *altın* *heykelleri *nasıl götüreceğiz?" sorusunu da "*Altın*lardan hiç haberleri olmayacak ki saygı değer üstad! Üç gün sonra Müslümanların kutsal kurbanlar kesecekleri bayramları gelecek. O zaman bütün işçileri Hille'ye göndereceğiz. Onlar Fuzulî'nin Muhammed peygambere ithaf ettiği şiirlerini okurken, biz de onun L&M'ini okuyor, *hazineleri *okutuyor olacağız." diye yanıtladı. ...


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## dudasd

Yes, it is that text. Sincerely, I would be most prone to understand it like "palming off" if there was not that limited time. I don't know for how many days people in that part of the world use to celebrate Kurban Bayram, but if the members of the Association mean to bring out the tablets and gold, transport them through the desert and the whole Ottoman Empire (so that they could start selling the gold in Europe), it would last much longer than "Onlar Fuzûlî’nin Muhammed peygambere ithaf ettiği şiirlerini okurken" suggests.

Generally, the author is omitting some important facts from time to time, leaving us to guess (like that he forgot to write them down), so there were many such places demanding some guesswork.


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## Rallino

Now that I've reread the thread, I agree that it has to do with selling the treasures. It makes sense.


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## dudasd

Is ther _any, even a slight_ possibility that it can mean "swipe off"? I've already noticed, for example, that the author used some idioms in a rather unusual way, so maybe... 

This is becoming a logical puzzle, actually - while the workers are reciting lines dedicated to Muhammed, the members of the Association would be _still_ in the middle of the desert and wouldn't have anyone to whom they could sell tons of gold.


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## dudasd

PS After a lot of other examples I've found  during the night, now I wonder could it be this (citing from an online dictionary):

_okutmak - okumak eylemini yaptırmak. "Mektubu okutacak adam bulamamış"_

And could in that case the sentence mean: "...we will be reading his _Leyla and Mecnun _and having the treasure read (explained, interpreted...)."

Because they are also waiting for a team of experts to come and help them read and understand the text and calculations that are supposedly on the tablets.

I apologize if I have been too annoying with this sentence, I feel a large responsibility with every book.


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