Seraglio

The term seraglio, from Italian, has been used in English since 1581.

The Italian Treccani dictionary gives two derivations:

1. one via {{langx|tr|seray}} or {{lang|tr|saray}} (with the variants seraya or saraya), which comes from {{langx|fa|سرای|sarāy|palace}} or, per derivation, the enclosed court for the wives and concubines of the harem of a house or palace (see {{§l||Harem}});
2. the other — in the sense of enclosure{{efn|name=ghetto|Traditionally an enclosure for wild animals, but also as a synonym of ghetto, for example in Italy.}} — from Late/{{langx|la-x-medieval|serraculum}}, derived from Classical Latin {{lang|la|serare}}, {{lit|to close}}, which comes from {{lang|la|sera}}, {{lit|door-bar}}.

The term may also be spelt serail, via French influence, based on the Italian term.

{{see also|Harem|Imperial Harem}}

File:Inside the Harem, Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, Turkey (Nov 2009).jpg]]

File:John frederick lewis-reception1873.jpg]]

Since the Topkapı Palace's harem (commonly known as "The Seraglio harem") grew in prominence and fame, the term saray/serail/seraglio began also being commonly used as a synonym of harem, the sequestered living quarters used by wives and concubines in an Ottoman household.{{efn|The term harem is a generic term for domestic spaces reserved for women in a Muslim family, which can also refer to the women themselves.}}

File:Präsidentpalast (im Stadtmitte).jpg, Lebanon]]

File:Aleppo Grand Seray.jpg, Syria]]

File:Tripoli - Eingang zum Nationalmuseum.jpg, Libya]]

Besides the Topkapı Palace ("The Seraglio"), the most famous seray is the Grand Serail of Beirut ({{langx|ar|السراي الكبير|Al-Sarāy al-Kabir}}) in Lebanon, which is the headquarters of the prime minister. It is situated atop a hill in downtown Beirut a few blocks away from the Lebanese Parliament. The hill was the site of an Ottoman army base from the 1840s, which was built up, fortified, and expanded in the 1850s. At first it was known as al quishla, from the Turkish word kışla, meaning barracks.

Other examples include:

• the Grand Serail of Aleppo, in Syria; a French construction inspired to the Ottoman tradition.
• the Red Serail of Tripoli, in Libya. Located in central Tripoli, it also houses a museum.
• the new presidential palace of Turkey, completed in 2014, popularly called Ak Saray ("White Palace").

Seventeen saraya were established in Palestine during Ottoman rule; most were established by regional officials and their families such as the Ridwan dynasty and Zahir al-Umar and his family.{{cite journal |last=Bshara |first=Khaldun |title=The Ottoman Saraya: All That Did Not Remain |journal=Jerusalem Quarterly |volume=69 |page=66 |url=https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/213043}}

In modern Italian the word is spelled {{lang|it|serraglio}}. It may refer to a wall or structure, either for defence — such as the Serraglio of Villafranca di Verona, a defensive wall built by the Scaligeri — or for containment, for example of caged wild animals.{{efn|name=ghetto}} The ghettoes established in many Italian cities following the promulgation by Pope Paul IV in 1555 of the papal bull Cum nimis absurdum were initially called {{lang|it|serraglio degli ebrei}}, {{lit|enclosure of the Jews}}.Debenedetti-Stow, Sandra (1992). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/20101121 "The Etymology of "Ghetto": New Evidence from Rome"]. Jewish History 6 (1/2), The Frank Talmage Memorial Volume: 79–85 {{subscription required}}

Seraglio is also the name of the artificial island on which Mantua is located.

In the context of the {{lang|fr|turquerie}} fashion, the seraglio became the subject of works of art, the most famous perhaps being Mozart's 1782 Singspiel, {{lang|de|Die Entführung aus dem Serail}} (The Abduction from the Seraglio), based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's 1781 {{lang|it|italic=no|libretto}} {{lang|de|Belmont und Constanze, oder Die Entführung aus dem Serail}} (Belmonte and Konstanze, or The Abduction from the Seraglio). In Montesquieu's 1721 Persian Letters, one of the main characters, a Persian from the city of Isfahan, is described as an occupant of a seraglio.

Saraya is also used as a military unit title in the Arab world. In this case the Arabic is {{lang|ar|سرية}}, a different word from "saraya" ({{lang|ar|السرايا}}) as in a building. The etymology is also different from the building: {{lang|ar|سرية}} is from Arabic and communicates the idea of a "private group". However the plural is {{lang|ar|سرايا}} (saraya), indistinguishable from the term "saraya" which is a variant (in the singular) of saray (the building).

The normal translation for {{lang|ar|سرية}} is company (military unit), but in the case of the Lebanese Resistance Saraya the term is often arbitrarily translated as brigades.

Another example is the Syrian Defense Saraya.

{{wiktionary|saray|seray|serail|seraglio}}

{{commons category}}

• Caravanserai, another word involving saray, is an inn or rest stop for caravans
• Sarayburnu (also known as Seraglio Point)
• Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon, now the office of the prime minister of Lebanon
• The Abduction from the Seraglio, opera singspiel by Mozart

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist|refs =

{{Cite dictionary

|url = http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/tag/serraglio

|title = Serraglio

|dictionary = Treccani: Vocabolario on line

|location = Rome

|publisher = Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana

|lang = it

|access-date = 2022-11-03

}}

{{Cite dictionary

|url = http://www.thefreedictionary.com/seraglio

|title = seraglio

|dictionary = The Free Dictionary

|publisher = Farlex

|access-date = 2022-11-03

}}

{{Dictionary.com|seraglio

|access-date = 2022-11-03

}}

{{OEtymD|seraglio

|access-date = 2022-11-03

}}

{{Cite dictionary

|url = https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=sera&la=la#Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=sera-contents

|title = "sĕra", entry from Lewis & Short

|dictionary = Latin Word Study Tool

|via = Perseus

|access-date = 2022-11-03

}}

{{Cite book

|editor-last = Macdonald

|editor-first = A. M.

|year = 1972

|title = Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary

|location = London

|publisher = Chambers

|isbn = 055010206X

|page = 1235

}}

{{Cite book

|first = Mohja

|last = Kahf

|title = Western Representations of the Muslim Woman

|publisher = University of Texas Press

|page = 5

}}

{{Cite web

|url = http://www.allaboutturkey.com/harem.htm

|title = Harem

|website = Allaboutturkey.com

|access-date = 2022-11-03

}}

}}

• {{Cite book

|first = John

|last = Freely

|author-link = John Freely

|title = Inside the Seraglio: Private Lives of the Sultans in Istanbul

|year = 1999

}}

Category:Culture of the Ottoman Empire

Category:Concubines from the Ottoman Empire

Category:Harem

ar:سراي