Giaour Explained

Giaour or Gawur or Gavour (; tr|gâvur, pronounced as /tr/; from fa|گور gâvor; ro|ghiaur; sq|kaur; el|γκιαούρης|gkiaoúris; bg|гяур; Bosnian; kaur/đaur) meaning "infidel", is a slur used mostly in the lands of the former Ottoman Empire for non-Muslims or, more particularly, Christians in the Balkans.^{[1] [2]}

Terminology

The terms "kafir", "gawur", and "rûm" (the last meaning "Rum millet") were commonly used in defters (tax registries) for Orthodox Christians, usually without ethnic distinction. Christian ethnic groups in the Balkan lands of the Ottoman Empire included Greeks (rûm), Bulgarians (bulgar), Serbs (sırp), Albanians (arnavut) and Vlachs (eflak), among others.^[2]

The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica described the term as follows:

During the Tanzimat (1839–1876) era, a hatt-i humayun prohibited the use of the term by Muslims with reference to non-Muslims^[3] to prevent problems occurring in social relationships.^[4]

European cultural references

• Giaour is the name given to the evil monster of a man in the tale Vathek, written by William Beckford in French in 1782 and translated into English soon after. The spelling Giaour appears in the French as well as in the English translation.^[5]
• In 1813 Lord Byron published his poem The Giaour: A Fragment of a Turkish Tale, whose themes revolve around the ideas of love, death, and afterlife in Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire.
• Le Giaour, an 1832 painting by Ary Scheffer, oil on canvas, "Musée de la Vie romantique", Hôtel Scheffer-Renan, Paris.
• Sonnet XL of Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning contains these lines:

Musselmans and Giaours
Throw kerchiefs at a smile, and have no ruth
For any weeping.

See also

• Gabr, Persian equivalent
• Kafir, Arabic equivalent
• Dhimmi
• Rayah
• Guiri is Spanish slang for a foreign tourist. According to Juan Goytisolo, it is derived from Turkish gâvur.^[6]

Notes and References

1. Book: Speros Vryonis. The Turkish State and History: Clio Meets the Grey Wolf. 1993. Institute for Balkan Studies. 978-0-89241-532-8. The Turkish term "giaour" a term of contempt, was applied to these Balkan Christians,.
2. Book: Entangled Histories of the Balkans: Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies. 13 June 2013. BRILL. 978-90-04-25076-5. 44. In the Ottoman defters, Orthodox Christians are as a rule recorded as kâfir or gâvur (infidels) or (u)rum..
3. 1868. The Eastern Question. London Quarterly Review. London. E.C. Barton. 407. The application of the word giaour, dog, is forbidden by the Hatt-i-Humayoou [...]. . 20 November 2023.
4. Book: Gawrych, George. George Gawrych

   . George Gawrych. The Crescent and the Eagle: Ottoman Rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874-1913. 2006. I.B.Tauris. 978-1-84511-287-5. 15.

5. Book: Beckford, William. William Beckford (novelist)

   . William Beckford (novelist). Vathek. 2013. OUP Oxford. 978-0-19-164578-5.

6. Pesquisas en la obra tardía de Juan Goytisolo, page 66, Volumen 33 de Foro hispánico,, Brigitte Adriaensen, Marco Kunz, Rodopi, 2009,, . Quotes Estambul otomano, page 62, Juan Goytisolo, 1989, Barcelona, Planeta.