A seraglio, serail, seray or saray (from fa,
سرای, sarāy, palace, via
Turkish and
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
) is a
castle,
palace or government building which was considered to have particular administrative importance in various parts of the former
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
.
"The Seraglio" may refer specifically to the
Topkapı Palace
The Topkapı Palace ( tr, Topkapı Sarayı; ota, طوپقپو سرايى, ṭopḳapu sarāyı, lit=cannon gate palace), or the Seraglio, is a large museum in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the complet ...
, the residence of the former
Ottoman sultans in
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
(known as
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
in English at the time of Ottoman rule).
The term can also refer to other traditional Turkish palaces (every imperial prince had his own) and other grand houses built around courtyards.
Etymology
The term ''seraglio'', from
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
,
[ has been used in English since 1581.][
The Italian ]Treccani
The ''Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti'' ( Italian for "Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts"), best known as ''Treccani'' for its developer Giovanni Treccani or ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', is an Italian-language ...
dictionary gives two derivations:[
# one via tr, seray or ][ (with the variants ''seraya'' or ''saraya''), which comes from fa, سرای, sarāy, palace][ or, per derivation, the enclosed court for the wives and concubines of the harem of a house or palace (see );
# the other — in the sense of enclosure — from ]Late
Late may refer to:
* LATE, an acronym which could stand for:
** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia
** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law
** Local average treatment effect, ...
/ la-x-medieval, serraculum, derived from Classical Latin
Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a literary standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It was used from 75 BC to the 3rd century AD, when it developed into Late Latin. In some later period ...
, , which comes from , .[
The term may also be spelt ''serail'', via French influence, based on the Italian term.][
]
Harem
Since the Topkapı Palace's harem (commonly known as "The Seraglio harem"[) grew in prominence and fame, the term saray/serail/seraglio began also being commonly used as a synonym of '']harem
Harem ( Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A har ...
'', the sequestered living quarters used by wives and concubine
Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive.
Concubi ...
s in an Ottoman household.[
]
In Ottoman culture
Besides the Topkapı Palace
The Topkapı Palace ( tr, Topkapı Sarayı; ota, طوپقپو سرايى, ṭopḳapu sarāyı, lit=cannon gate palace), or the Seraglio, is a large museum in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the complet ...
("The Seraglio"), the most famous seray is the Grand Serail
The Grand Serail ( ar, السراي الكبير, ; french: Le Grand Serail; also known as the Government Palace) is the headquarters of the Prime Minister of Lebanon. It is situated atop a hill in downtown Beirut a few blocks away from the L ...
( ar, السراي الكبير, Al-Sarāy al-Kabir) in Lebanon, which is the headquarters of the prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
. It is situated atop a hill in downtown Beirut a few blocks away from the Lebanese Parliament. The hill was the site of an Ottoman army base from the 1840s, which was built up, fortified, and expanded in the 1850s. At first it was known as ''al quishla'', from the Turkish word ''kışla'', meaning barracks.
Other examples include:
* the Grand Serail of Aleppo
The Grand Serail ( ar, سراي حلب الكبير, french: Grand Serail d'Alep) was the former seat of the governor of the Syrian city of Aleppo. It was built between 1928 and 1933 to serve as the main government building in the city. It was o ...
, in Syria; a French construction inspired to the Ottoman tradition.
* the Red Serail of Tripoli, in Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
. Located in central Tripoli
Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to:
Cities and other geographic units Greece
*Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...
, it also houses a museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
.
* the new presidential palace of Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
, completed in 2014, popularly called '' Ak Saray'' ("White Palace").
In Italy
In modern Italian the word is spelled . It may refer to a wall or structure, either for defence — such as the Serraglio of Villafranca di Verona
Villafranca di Verona is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Verona in the Veneto, Northern Italy.
History
The position on the ancient via Postumia and the perpendicular intersection structure of its roads suggests that the city had Roma ...
, a defensive wall built by the Scaligeri
The Della Scala family, whose members were known as Scaligeri () or Scaligers (; from the Latinized ''de Scalis''), was the ruling family of Verona and mainland Veneto (except for Venice) from 1262 to 1387, for a total of 125 years.
History
W ...
— or for containment, for example of caged wild animals.[ The ]ghetto
A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...
es established in many Italian cities following the promulgation by Pope Paul IV
Pope Paul IV, born Gian Pietro Carafa, C.R. ( la, Paulus IV; it, Paolo IV; 28 June 1476 – 18 August 1559) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 May 1555 to his death in August 1559. While serving as pa ...
in 1555 of the papal bull ''Cum nimis absurdum
''Cum nimis absurdum'' was a papal bull issued by Pope Paul IV dated 14 July 1555. It takes its name from its first words: "Since it is absurd and utterly inconvenient that the Jews, who through their own fault were condemned by God to eternal sl ...
'' were initially called , .[Debenedetti-Stow, Sandra (1992)]
"The Etymology of "Ghetto": New Evidence from Rome"
''Jewish History'' 6 (1/2), The Frank Talmage Memorial Volume: 79–85
Seraglio
A seraglio, serail, seray or saray (from fa, سرای, sarāy, palace, via Turkish and Italian) is a castle, palace or government building which was considered to have particular administrative importance in various parts of the former Ott ...
is also the name of the artificial island on which Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Eur ...
is located.
In popular culture
In the context of the ''turquerie
Turquerie (anglicized as "Turkery"), "Turquoiserie" was the Turkish fashion in Western Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries for imitating aspects of Ottoman art and culture. Many different Western European countries were fascinated by the exo ...
'' fashion, the seraglio became the subject of works of art, the most famous perhaps being Mozart's Singspiel, ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail
' () ( K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's ''Belmont und Constanze, oder Di ...
'' (''The Abduction from the Seraglio''). In Montesquieu's ''Persian Letters
''Persian Letters'' (french: Lettres persanes) is a literary work, published in 1721, by Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, recounting the experiences of two fictional Persian noblemen, Usbek and Rica, who spend several years in France u ...
'', one of the main characters, a Persian from the city of Isfahan, is described as an occupant of a seraglio.
Homophones
''Saraya'' is also used as a military unit title in the Arab world. In this case the Arabic is , a different word from "saraya" () as in a building. The etymology is also different from the building: The etymology of سرية is from Arabic and communicates the idea of a "private group". However the plural is (''saraya''), indistinguishable from the term "saraya" which is a variant (in the singular) of saray (the building).
The normal translation for is ''company'' ( military unit), but in the case of the Lebanese Resistance Saraya the term is often arbitrarily translated as ''brigades''.
Another example is the Syrian Defense Saraya.
See also
* Caravanserai, another word involving ''saray'', is an inn or rest stop for caravans
* Sarayburnu
Sarayburnu ( tr, Sarayburnu, meaning ''Palace Cape''; known in English as the Seraglio Point) is a promontory quarter separating the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara in Istanbul, Turkey. The area is where the renowned Topkapı Palace and Gülh ...
(also known as Seraglio Point)
* Grand Serail
The Grand Serail ( ar, السراي الكبير, ; french: Le Grand Serail; also known as the Government Palace) is the headquarters of the Prime Minister of Lebanon. It is situated atop a hill in downtown Beirut a few blocks away from the L ...
in Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
, now the office of the prime minister of Lebanon
The Prime Minister of Lebanon, officially the President of the Council of Ministers, is the head of government and the head of the Council of Ministers of Lebanon. The Prime Minister is appointed by the president of Lebanon, with the consent ...
* ''The Abduction from the Seraglio
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', opera singspiel by Mozart
Notes and references
Notes
References
Bibliography
* {{Cite book
, first = John
, last = Freely
, author-link = John Freely
, title = Inside the Seraglio: Private Lives of the Sultans in Istanbul
, year = 1999
Ottoman culture
Concubines of the Ottoman Empire
Harem
ar:سراي