اسپنج

Ottoman Turkish

اسپنجلر

Alternative forms

• اسپنجه (ispence), اسپنجیك (ispencik)

Etymology

From a corruption of پنجك (pencik, “a title for slaves”), from پنج (penc, “five”).

Noun

اسپنج • (ispenc) (definite accusative اسپنجی (ispenci), plural اسپنجلر (ispencler))

1. (historical) poll tax on slaves when first brought to the market from abroad, as the fiscal fifth due to treasury on all prisoners of war
2. bantam, any of small variety of fowl, usually of chicken or duck, especially of a breed that is a miniature version of another breed

Descendants

• Turkish: ispenç
• → Armenian: ըսփէնճ (əspʻēnč), սփէնճ (spʻēnč), ըսպէնճ (əspēnč), իսպէնճ (ispēnč), սպէնճ (spēnč)
• → Bulgarian: испендже́ (ispendžé), испе́нч (ispénč)

Further reading

• Barbier de Meynard, Charles (1881) “اسپنج”, in Dictionnaire turc-français, volume I, Paris: E. Leroux, page 47
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “ispenç”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 2223
• Horn, Paul (1893) Grundriss der neupersischen Etymologie (in German), Strasbourg: K.J. Trübner, § 704, page 156, derives from Persian سپنج (sepanj)
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “اسپنج”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[1], Constantinople: Mihran, page 74
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “اسپنج”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[2], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 86