Early-Ottoman Palestinian Toponymy A Linguistic Analysis of the (Micro-)Toponyms in Haseki Sultan’s Endowment Deed (1552)

This article offers the first linguistic discussion of a Palestinian typonymic corpus from the 16^th cent. c.e. It shows that the general outlines of the Palestinian nomenclature of space were well developed by that time, instead of being the more recent linguistic product of later centuries as previously thought. Many Arabic-language microtoponyms, traditionally regarded as the product of modern Palestinian rural society, reflect instead a long-lasting linguistic continuity of the country’s Arabic speaking village communities. As our test case, we used the toponyms recorded in the endowment deed (waqfiyya) of the 'Imara al-'Amira, the Jerusalem soup kitchen established by Roxellana (1502-1558 C.E.), Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent’s favourite wife (Haseki Sultan), dated 958 ah/1552 C.E. The list of 195 topoynyms reveals that the lowest levels of preservation are in the western part of Lod Valley (20-25%), while the highlands are characterized by a higher preservation percentage of 40-60%.