# Gözde



## onceinawhile

I just red in a novel about ancient Turkey, where sultan has to sleep with a "gozde" every night.  Does anyone know the meaning of that word?  Can it mean concubine?  Thanks.


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## tepatria

I have not heard this word,except as someone's name.


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## sarcie

Hi onceinawhile, 

Often, authors use foreign words to express concepts that there is no English word for. I think this is the case here. I looked up "gözde" on the Internet and found the following definition here:

*gözde* 
*1.* favorite, favored, in favor. 
*2.* favored one, favorite (woman).

From this, I can deduce that it probably means favoured wife or concubine. In your novel, this might be clear from the context (the author would not have to explain it) or the author may have added an explanatory note. This is not uncommon, especially with foreign writers writing in English.


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## GreenWhiteBlue

onceinawhile said:


> I just read in a novel about ancient Turkey, where the sultan has to sleep with a "gozde" every night. Does anyone know the meaning of that word? Can it mean concubine? Thanks.


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## Chazzwozzer

Sarcie is right.

_*Gözde *_is a name given to sultan's favorite odalisque in historical context.

P.S: "Ottoman Empire" is not considered to be "ancient Turkey".


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## onceinawhile

Thank you!  I know the difference between Ottoman Empire and Turkey.


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## onceinawhile

but thank you for helping me realize my mistake!


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