The place of the Grammatiki tis Tourkikis Glossis (1730) by Kanellos Spanós in Ottoman Greek grammarianism and its importance for Karamanlidika studies

When the Peloponnesean scholar Kanellos Spanos finished his “Grammar of the Turkish Language” in 1730, a number of Ottoman Turkish grammars had already been composed in various forms and languages; two of them, at least, in Greek (dated 1630 and 1664, see Kappler 1999, 2001). However, Spanos’ grammar seems to be the first original grammar of Turkish in Greek, since the other two works were translations from European grammars. All of them remained unprinted (although Spanos initially planned to edit the book in Venice), the first printed Ottoman Turkish grammar in Greek being Dimitris Alexandridis’ Grammatiki Graikiko-Tourkiki (Vienna 1812). The manuscript of Spanos’ grammar is conserved in the National Library of Greece and comprises the three typical parts of a pre-modern grammar (grammar, lexicon and dialogues), followed by a Christian catechism in Greek and Turkish in Greek characters (Siakotos 2006: 278-279). As his sources, the author refers explicitly to Franciscus Meninski’s Grammatica Turcica (1680) and Neofytos Mavrommatis’ Apanthisma tis Christianikis Pisteos – Gülzar-i iman-i mesihi (1718), the first printed Karamanlidika book (Balta 2010: 73, Siakotos 2006: 270, 283). The present study explores the role of the Karamanlidika source for Spanos and his Grammatiki, and tries to pave the way for a more in-depth analysis of the Karamanlidika material contained in the grammar