Sami Frashëri

Sami Frashëri was born on the 1^st June 1850; he died on the 18^th June 1904. He was a philosopher, a playwright and a writer from Albania. He is a prominent figure of the Rilindja Kombetare, the National Renaissance movement of the country, Albania, along with his brothers, Abdyl and Naim. He accepted and helped the Turkish nationalism and laicism and he held a close relationship with the nationalist intellectuals of Turkey like Veled Chelebi and Nedjib Asim.

source of picture: en.wikipedia.org

He was one of the children of a Bey from Frasher in the city of Permet. He got a place in the Ottoman literature as a gifted author under the name Şemseddin Sami Efendi and he contributed much to the reformation of the Ottoman Turkish language.

As declared in one of his book, Albania - What it was, what it is, and what will become of it", which was pubished in the year 1899, became a manifesto of the Albanian renaissance. He was able to talk over the prospects for a free and independent republic of the country, Albania.in this manner, starting with a demand for autonomy and fight for their own alphabets and their own education; he assisted the Albanian national liberation movement to develop the claims it had for independence of the country. The finance of the translation and distribution of the works were done by Theodor Anton Ippen and Nopcsa. In the present day, so many schools are bearing his name and one of the main schools that has his name as the name of the school is Sami Frashëri High School in Tirana and in Prishtina.

Life

He went to Greek Language Zosimea gymnasium in Ioannina Epirus, and it was there that he came in close touch with the western philosophy and he studied Greek, French and Italian. With the assistance of a personal teacher, he also learned Persian, Arabic and Turkish.

He relocated to Istanbul in the year 1872 and it was there that he served the government press Bureau. As that of several other members of the Albanian renaissance, his lifetime target was the development and improvement of the culture and independence of the country.

Together with his elder brother, Abdyl, Hasan Tahsini, Pashko Vasa and Jani Vreto, he was able form the Central Committee for Defending Albanian Rights. The committee formed a commission for the alphabets of the country in the early part of the year 1879.

He was also the founder of and the head of Society for the Publication of Albanian Writings, which he did in October 1879, and it was there that the books and text of the country were compiled by him and his brother Naim. The society was seized and closed by the Ottoman government in the year 1885 together with the Drita magazine, then Dituria that was opened by Petro Poga in the year 1884, though on decree that was issued on the demand of Sami Frasheri.

He died on the 18^th June 1904 after a serious illness at his residence in Erenköy, Istanbul. His son, Ali Sami Yen born in the year 1886 and died in the year 1951 was a footba player and he is the founder of Galatasaray SK and he was the chairman of the Galatasaray from the year 1905 to the year 1918 and from the year 1925 to the year 1926.

Work

Sami wrote about 50 masterpieces. Theodor Anton Ippen and Nopcsa were the people that financed the translation and also the distribution of the works that were done by Sami. Some of the most crucial of the works are;

Novels

• Ta'aşşûk-ı Tal'at ve Fitnât (Albanian: Dashuria e Talatit me Fitneten -English: The Love Between Talat and Fitnat, 1873)

Drama

• Besâ yâhut Âhde Vefâ (Albanian: "Besa ose Mbajtja e Fjalës" - English: Besa or The Given Word of Trust, 1874).
• Seydi Yahya (1875)
• Gâve (1876)
• Mezalim-i Endülûs (Never printed)
• Vicdân (Never printed)

Dictionaries and Encyclopedical Works

• Kamûs-ı Fransevî (1882–1905, French-Turkish dictionary)
• Kamûs-ı Fransevî (1885, French-Turkish dictionary)
• Küçük Kamûs-ı Fransevî (1886, French-Turkish dictionary)
• Kamûs-ül Â'lâm (6 volumes, 1889–1898, Encyclopedia of General Science, known to be the first Encyclopedia printed in Turkish)
• Kamûs-ı 'Arabî (1898, Arabic-Turkish dictionary, unfinished)
• Kamus-ı Türki (2 volumes, dictionary of the Classical Ottoman Turkish language, still widely used as a reference as of today, 1899–1900, reprints and facsimiles in 1978 and 1998)

Scientific Writings

He did a lot of scientific writings in the albanian language like Qielli, Toka, Njeriu, Gjuha and some others.

Educational Writings in Albanian

• Allfabetarja e Stambollit (Alphabet of Istanbul, 1879),
• Abetarja e Shkronjëtoreja (Grammatical Work, 1886).

Linguistics

• Usûl-ü Tenkîd ve Tertîb (1886, Orthography of Turkish)
• Nev'usûl Sarf-ı Türkî (1891, Modern Turkish Grammar)
• Yeñi Usûl-ü Elifbâ-yı Türkî (1898, New Turkish Alphabetical System))
• Usûl-ü Cedîd-i Kavâ'id-i 'Arabiyye (1910, New Method for Learning Arabic)
• Tatbîkât-ı 'Arabiyye (1911, Exercises in Arabic)

Political Work

• Shqipëria ç'ka qenë, ç'është e çdo të bëhetë (Albania - what it was, what it is and what it will be, 1889).
• Theoretical commentary that became Rilindja Kombëtare's manifesto.

Other works

He was able to publish small scientific booklet on the following subjects; Astronomy, Geology, Anthropology, History of Islam and the Islamic civilization, Women, Mythology and Linguistics in Turkish language.