Dictionaries, which are among the primary reference sources in foreign language teaching, have been indispensable educational materials in the Ottoman education system. During this period, many dictionaries in various forms and sizes were written, especially for the teaching of Arabic and Persian. One type of dictionary that gained significant popularity due to its assistance in memorizing words easily and retaining them in memory for a longer time is the rhymed dictionary. In previous studies, the existence of over eighty rhymed dictionaries has been identified. One of these, Tuhfe-i Âmidî, which forms the subject of this study, is an example of a rhymed Arabic-Turkish dictionary compiled in the second half of the 17th century. The author of the work, a poet with the pen name Âmidî, whose biography is not available in sources, wrote the work in 1088/1677-78. The work consists of a preface, 21 stanzas with line counts ranging from 9 to 18, and a conclusion section. Including the preface and conclusion, the total number of verses is 307. The work contains nearly 1000 Arabic words or phrases with their Turkish equivalents, without following a particular organizational pattern. The work, which is a successful example of its genre both in form and content, appears as a medium-sized dictionary compared to others of the same type. In this study, after some evaluations of the form and content features of Tuhfe-i Âmidî, the only known manuscript of which is registered under number 181/3 in the Reşid Efendi Collection of the Süleymaniye Library, a translation of the text is provided.
Classical Turkish Literature, 17th Century, poetic dictionary, Tuhfe-i Âmidî.