The medical manuscript 'Kitāb-ı ʿilm-i ṭıbb': transcription and fundamentals of scientific and textual analysis

Abstract

This article presents a transcription of the first two pages of the Chagatai manuscript Kitāb-ı ʿilm-i ṭıbb, along with the foundation of its textual analysis and an index glossary of the first page. The Chagatai period (15th–20th centuries) is widely recognized as a significant stage in the history of Turkic written culture. Although religious literature predominated during this period, a considerable number of texts representing various branches of knowledge were also produced, including medical works. The manuscript Kitāb-ı ʿilm-i ṭıbb, preserved in the National Academic Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan, is described in terms of its codicological features. The text is written in black ink, with occasional use of red ink for emphasis. However, no information is available regarding its author, date of composition, or copyist. The manuscript has not previously been incorporated into scholarly circulation and has been known only through catalogue records. The aim of this study is to introduce this previously understudied medical manuscript into academic discourse. To achieve this, the first two pages of the text were transcribed, an index glossary for the first page was compiled, and the proportional distribution of lexical units was analyzed. The study employs textual analysis, the historical-comparative method, and linguistic description. A persistent problem in Turkological studies is the lack of standardization in the transcription of Turkic texts written in Arabic script. Different studies employ Cyrillic, Latin, or mixed transcription systems. In this article, a Latin-based transcription system is adopted, following the principles proposed in the Turkic Academy publication Qara sözder, with necessary extensions and additional characters. Following transcription, the lexical structure of the text was analyzed using an index dictionary generated with the TURKSÖZDIZ 4.3.1 program developed by Turkish researchers. Abbreviations and specific features of the Chagatai written tradition were also examined. As a result, the manuscript is introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time and is identified as one of the most extensive known medical manuscripts within the medieval Turkic written heritage. The findings contribute to the study of Chagatai medical literature and provide valuable material for the analysis of historical Turkic lexicon and terminology. The proposed transcription and index glossary may serve as useful tools for future textological research on Turkic written heritage.