# Giaour > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Giaour > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Giaour.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giaour > Source revision: 1343870214 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Non-Muslim person (of the Ottoman Empire)}} [[File:The Giaour MET DP874603 - cropped.jpg|thumb|[Théodore Géricault](/source/Th%C3%A9odore_G%C3%A9ricault): ''The Giaour'' (1820, lithograph; [Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art), New York)]] [[File:Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix 021.jpg|thumb|[Eugène Delacroix](/source/Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix): ''The Combat of the Giaour and Hassan'' (1826, oil on canvas; [Art Institute of Chicago](/source/Art_Institute_of_Chicago)), inspired by [Lord Byron](/source/Lord_Byron)'s ''[The Giaour](/source/The_Giaour)'']] '''Giaour''' or '''Gawur''' or '''Gavour''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|aʊər}}; {{langx|tr|gâvur}}, {{IPA|tr|ɟaˈvuɾ}}; from {{langx|fa|گور}} ''gâvor'';{{efn|an obsolete variant of modern {{lang|fa|گبر}} ''[gaur](/source/gabr)'', originally derived from {{langx|arc|𐡂𐡁𐡓𐡀|''gaḇrā''|man; person}}}} {{langx|ro|ghiaur}}; {{langx|sq|kaur}}; {{langx|el|γκιαούρης|gkiaoúris}}; {{langx|bg|гяур}}; [Bosnian](/source/Bosnian_language); kaur/đaur) meaning "infidel", is a slur used mostly in the lands of the former [Ottoman Empire](/source/Ottoman_Empire) for non-Muslims or, more particularly, [Christians](/source/Christians) in the [Balkans](/source/Balkans).{{cite book|author=Speros Vryonis|title=The Turkish State and History: Clio Meets the Grey Wolf|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mTFpAAAAMAAJ|year=1993|publisher=Institute for Balkan Studies|isbn=978-0-89241-532-8|quote=The Turkish term "giaour" a term of contempt, was applied to these Balkan Christians,}}{{cite book|title=Entangled Histories of the Balkans: Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FGmJqMflYgoC&pg=PA44|date=13 June 2013|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-25076-5|page=44|quote=In the Ottoman defters, Orthodox Christians are as a rule recorded as kâfir or gâvur (infidels) or (u)rum.}} ==Terminology== The terms "''[kafir](/source/kafir)''", "''gawur",'' and "''[rûm](/source/r%C3%BBm)''" (the last meaning "[Rum millet](/source/Rum_Millet)") were commonly used in [defter](/source/defter)s (tax registries) for [Orthodox Christians](/source/Orthodoxy), usually without ethnic distinction. Christian ethnic groups in the [Ottoman Balkans](/source/Rumelia) included [Greeks](/source/Greeks) (''rûm''), [Bulgarians](/source/Bulgarians) (''bulgar''), [Serbs](/source/Serbs) (''sırp''), [Albanians](/source/Albanians) (''[arnavut](/source/Arnaut)'') and [Vlachs](/source/Vlachs) (''eflak''), among others. The [1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica''](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition) described the term as follows: {{quote|''Giaour'' (a [Turkish](/source/Turkish_language) adaptation of the [Persian](/source/Persian_language) ''gâwr'' or ''gōr'', an [infidel](/source/infidel)), a word used by the [Turks](/source/Turkish_people) to describe all who are not Mohammedans, with especial reference to Christians. The word, first employed as a term of contempt and reproach, has become so general that in most cases no insult is intended in its use; for example in parts of [China](/source/China), the term [''foreign devil''](/source/Gweilo) has become void of offence. A strict analogy to giaour is found in the Arabic [kafir](/source/kafir), or unbeliever, which is so commonly in use as to have become the proper name of peoples and countries.}} During the [Tanzimat](/source/Tanzimat) (1839–1876) era, a [hatt-i humayun](/source/hatt-i_humayun) prohibited the use of the term by Muslims with reference to non-Muslims {{cite journal | year = 1868 | title = The Eastern Question | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0BsaAQAAIAAJ | journal = London Quarterly Review | location = London | publisher = E.C. Barton | page = 407 | quote = The application of the word ''giaour'', ''dog'', is forbidden by the Hatt-i-Humayoou [...]. | access-date = 20 November 2023 }} to prevent problems occurring in social relationships.{{cite book|last= Gawrych|first= George|authorlink= George Gawrych|title=The Crescent and the Eagle: Ottoman Rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874-1913|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wPOtzk-unJgC|year= 2006|publisher= I.B.Tauris|isbn= 978-1-84511-287-5|page= 15}} {{qn|date=November 2023}} ==European cultural references== [[File:Giaours smoking the Tchibouque with the Pacha of the Dardanelles. Travels in Circassia, Krim-tartary, &c.jpg|thumb|''Giaours smoking the [tchibouque](/source/chibouk) with the [pacha](/source/pasha) of the [Dardanelles](/source/Dardanelles)'', book illustration from 1839.]] *Giaour is the name given to the evil monster of a man in the tale ''[Vathek](/source/Vathek)'', written by [William Beckford](/source/William_Beckford_(novelist)) in French in 1782 and translated into English soon after. The spelling ''Giaour'' appears in the French as well as in the English translation.{{cite book|last=Beckford|first=William|authorlink=William Beckford (novelist)|title=Vathek|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dn2X3Zdc3GIC|year=2013|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-164578-5}} *In 1813 [Lord Byron](/source/Lord_Byron) published his poem ''[The Giaour: A Fragment of a Turkish Tale](/source/The_Giaour)'', whose themes revolve around the ideas of love, death, and afterlife in Western Europe and the [Ottoman Empire](/source/Ottoman_Empire). * ''Le Giaour'', an 1832 painting by [Ary Scheffer](/source/Ary_Scheffer), oil on canvas, "[Musée de la Vie romantique](/source/Mus%C3%A9e_de_la_Vie_romantique)", Hôtel Scheffer-Renan, Paris. * Sonnet XL of ''[Sonnets from the Portuguese](/source/Sonnets_from_the_Portuguese)'' (1850) by [Elizabeth Barrett Browning](/source/Elizabeth_Barrett_Browning) contains these lines:
''Musselmans and Giaours
Throw kerchiefs at a smile, and have no ruth
For any weeping.''
==See also== {{Wiktionary|giaour}} * [Xenophobia and discrimination in Turkey](/source/Xenophobia_and_discrimination_in_Turkey) * [Gabr](/source/Gabr), Persian term, from which "Giaour" is derived * [Kafir](/source/Kafir), Arabic equivalent * [Ajam](/source/Ajam) * [Dhimmi](/source/Dhimmi) * [Barbarian](/source/Barbarian) * [Farang](/source/Farang) ** [Frangistan](/source/Frangistan) * [Rum (endonym)](/source/Rum_(endonym)) ** [Rumelia](/source/Rumelia) * [Rayah](/source/Rayah) * [Guiri](/source/Guiri) is Spanish slang for a foreign tourist. According to [Juan Goytisolo](/source/Juan_Goytisolo), it is derived from Turkish ''gâvur''.''Pesquisas en la obra tardía de Juan Goytisolo'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=zOEVlJWy6moC&dq=gauri+guiri&pg=PA66 page 66], Volumen 33 de [Foro hispánico](/source/Foro_hisp%C3%A1nico), {{ISSN|0925-8620}}, [Brigitte Adriaensen](/source/Brigitte_Adriaensen), [Marco Kunz](/source/Marco_Kunz), Rodopi, 2009, {{ISBN|9042025476}}, {{ISBN|9789042025479}}. Quotes ''Estambul otomano'', page 62, [Juan Goytisolo](/source/Juan_Goytisolo), 1989, Barcelona, Planeta. * Epithets, exonyms, and other names for Muslim groups in the Ottoman Balkans: ** [Arnaut](/source/Arnaut) *** [Turco-Albanian](/source/Turco-Albanian) ** [Çıtak](/source/%C3%87%C4%B1tak_(term)) ** [Vallahades](/source/Vallahades) ** [Muslims (ethnic group)](/source/Muslims_(ethnic_group)) ** [Turk (term for Muslims)](/source/Turk_(term_for_Muslims)) ==Notes== {{notelist}} ==References== {{reflist}} ==Bibliography== *{{EB1911|wstitle=Giaour|volume=11|page=927}} {{Religious slurs}} Category:Islam-related slurs Category:Turkish words and phrases Category:Ethno-cultural designations Category:Christianity in the Ottoman Empire Category:Exonyms Category:Religious exonyms Category:Persecution of Christians by Muslims --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Giaour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giaour) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giaour?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.