Notes on Kashgari's Divan-i Lugat it-Turk by Sir Gerard Clauson

Scope and Content

Partially filled notebook containing Sir Gerard Clauson's (1891-1973, oriental scholar) 'Notes on Kashgari's Divan lugat at-Turk and other cognate subjects'.

Administrative / Biographical History

Sir Gerard Clauson (1891-1973) was a distinguished oriental scholar. He was educated at Eton and Corpus Christi College, Oxford where he excelled at Asian and Arabic studies. After serving in Gallipoli and the Middle East during the First World War he resumed his Civil Service career in the Colonial Office where he stayed until his retirement in 1951. As an academic he pursued his research into the history and development of the Turkish language. His publications include an article in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 1928 on a 15th century Turkish manuscript in the British Museum, articles in Central Asiatic Journal, Asia Major and Rocznik Orientalistyczny. Other significant published works include, Sanglax, a Persian guide to the Turkish language (Gibb Memorial Series, London 1960); Turkish and Mongolian Studies (Royal Asiatic Society Prize publication Fund, London 1963) and his major work, An etymological dictionary of pre-thirteenth century Turkish (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1972). He was a member of the governing body of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London 1957-1965.

Source: Obituary of Sir Gerard Clauson by C.E. Bosworth in Bulletin of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies Vol 1, No. 1 (1974) pp 39-40

Mahmud Kashgari ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad was born in 1008 in East Turkestan. He was the most renowned scholar and lexicographer of Turkic dialects, writing the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages the Divan-i Lugat it-Turk (Divânü Lügati't-Türk) in 1072. This book also included the first known map of the areas inhabited by Turkic peoples.

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Custodial History

Former location: MSS 1/ii/6