Saturday, December 2, 2017

Ottoman Insults


Similarly to how followers of Luther were known as Lutherans, followers of Osman I (the founder of the Ottoman Empire and dynasty, whose name was the Turkish form of "Uthman") were known as Ottomans.  Initially and conversely, "Turk" was applied to Anatolian peasants and was considered more of an insult.  In fact, the Ottomans often referred to the Turkish peasants as "the donkey Turk" and "stupid Turk."  They also called each other (as an insult) "Turk-head" and "Turk-person."  In fact, apparently the insult was even used in the United States as slang for someone of Irish birth, owing to the fact that "Turk" was often viewed as synonymous with an uncivilized person (and at the time, there was a lot of discrimination and hate towards immigrants).  Additionally, the name "Turk-head" in French is apparently also slang used to refer to a person who is the aim of bad treatment (although I'm not 100% sure about this; anyone have French friends?).


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