The study of the written monument «kitab ad-durra...» of the Mamluk period

Abstract

It’s well-known that language acquisition is an important issue that has not lost its relevance in
any century. The Kipchak language - in the XIII-XV centuries was used as a means of communication by the
Mamluks who ruled Egypt and Syria. The influence of the Mamluk government in Egypt was so strong that
even theArabs learned theTurkic language,thatis,Kipchak, and freelyused itin theirlives.In orderto establish
close ties between local Arab officials, merchants, the military, and the Kipchak-speaking Mamluks, ArabicKipchak dictionaries and grammatical works devoted to the study of the Kipchak language were written and
distributed to the general public. Not only dictionaries were written, but also literary works, religious treatises,
manymanuals and decrees,prayers, etc.,related to everydayneeds. Many of them disappeared before reaching
our time. However, it is the honor of our country, and the duty of generations to inventory, study and put into
scientific circulation our Turkic-Kipchak-speakinghistorical heritage, known today in the scientific community
and preserved in different parts of the world. One of our historical and cultural heritage, one of such ArabicKipchakdictionaries thathas comedown to ourdays since the time oftheMamluks,is themanuscript «Kitab adDurra al-mudaiya fillugati-t-turkiya ‘ala-t-tamam va-l-kamal» - «The precious treasury of the Turkic language,
completely written and finished.» Although this manuscript was talked about and mentioned back in the XIIIXV centuries, it was first discovered in 1963 by Polish scientist Ananiasz Zajonczkowski in the department of
manuscripts written in Oriental languages of the Medici Library (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana) in Florence,
one of the oldest libraries in the world.
In the article, we focus on the historiography of the study of the Arabic-Kipchak dictionary «Kitab adDurra», the author of which is unknown, and this manuscript has been very little studied in domestic science,
and consider the main features of the manuscript and new data.