Qalat (fortress)
Qalat[citation needed] or kalata (قلعه) in Persian,[1] and qal'a(-t) or qil'a(-t) (قلعہ, قلعة) in Arabic, means 'fortress', 'fortification', 'castle',[2] or simply 'fortified place'.[3] The common English plural is "qalats".[Note 1][dubious – discuss]
Qalats can range from forts like
The word is used an various Arabic placenames.
Etymology
Wolf Leslau (1987), citing Siegmund Fraenkel [de] (1886) and Walter Belardi (1959), offers that the Arabic word has been adopted from the Iranian (Persian) kalata.[1]
Persian
The Persian word is kalata.[1]
Armenian
The Armenian word is preserved as kałak (kaghak) which means city.
Arabic
The Arabic word takes the forms qal'a(-t) and qil'a(-t), plural qilâ' and qulû' , meaning fortress, fortification, or castle.[2]
Middle East
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2021) |
See the lists of castles from
, etc.Central Asian fortified city
A typical qala in Central Asia consisted of a tripartite city model: kuhandiz (citadel), shahristan (residential area), and rabad (faubourg, suburb; the regional variant for rabat). This city model is valid not only for Central Asian city typology and is also used to describe similar city types elsewhere in Islamic geography.[6]
Kuhandiz (citadel)
In the pre-Islamic Iran and Turkestan towns consisted of a fortress called diz (also means "fortress" in Persian), and the actual town which was called shahristan. Middle Eastern Islamic geographers use the word kuhandiz for the oldest part of the settlements in the town centers. It later started to be used in with the meaning of citadel. The word kuhandiz originates from Persian (كهندز) and means literally "old fortress". But the word kuhandiz can't be applied to solitary fortresses which were independent of towns, as it would cause conceptual confusion. Although in Arabic the word hisn or husûn (حصون. ج - حص)[clarification needed] was used to indicate fortresses which were located off towns, since Arabic terms did not have proper meaning to describe those structures, they borrowed the word kuhandiz during the Islamic conquest of Iran. Kuhandizes were usually built on high ground and were the last line of defence in the town. Administrative units were mostly located here. The Turkish term iç kale and the English "citadel" are synonymous.[7]
Shahristan (residential area)
Shahristan is a combination of two words, šahr (city) and -stan/-istan (region, area), thus it literally means "city area". Before the Islamic conquest of Central Asia, castle-style settlements were common rather than large political and economic centers. The word used by Muslim Arabs for these fortified towns, which were protected by walls, is qal'a. As the feudal system was transcended, this tripartite city model appeared with castle-like structures, which are called kuhandiz, forming the core of the city. With the development in itself of the settlement within the old walls, cities without kuhandizes also appeared. Most of the townspeople dwelled in the shahristan. Mesut Can states that this might be the reason the name shahristan was used. Most of the buildings for recreation and worship were also located there.[8]
Rabad (faubourg, suburb)
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2021) |
Qala compounds in Iran and Afghanistan
In many areas of Iran and Afghanistan, particularly in tribal areas with pre-modern building practices, the qalat compound is the standard housing unit for multi-generational families. Qalats can be quickly constructed over the course of a single season, and they can be extremely large, sometimes covering several acres. Towers may be placed at the corners or points along the walls to create a more defensible position, but most qala compounds consist only of the walls.[citation needed]
While the foundation of a qala compound may be stone or fired brick, the walls are typically dried mud. Walls are created by laying down a row of adobe bricks with mud mortar along the entire length of the wall. By the time that the mason returns to the point of origin, the mortar is dry and the next row can be added on top of the old. Using this technique walls dozens of feet high can be built very rapidly.[citation needed]
Pakistan
Khanate of Kalat was a major state in the southwest
Turkey
Kale
Together the two castles, built in 1452 by orders from
In modern Turkish, kale (Turkish pronunciation: [ka'le]) is an umbrella term that encompasses all types of fortified structures.[10]
In Turkish, the scope of the term kale can vary. Today many fortified buildings are called kale, which causes confusion. Originally the word kale (or kal'a قلعە in
A typical kale has the same features known from Western and Eastern counterparts, such as curtain walls with towers and a gatehouse, an inner tower similar to a keep (bâlâhisar, erk or başkule in Turkish), battlements and embrasures, a moat and sometimes postern gates. In the 15th century, the Greek word for tower, purgos, was adopted into Turkish as burgaz.[10]
Ottoman towns in the Balkans and Anatolia had a tripartite city model: old castle (inner fortress), varoş (residential area, in modern Turkish used as 'suburb'), and outer city (suburb).[13]
Kale vs hisar, kermen
There are also other similar terms such as hisar or kermen.
The definition of the term hisar is similar to that of castle, a fortified structure that acts as a residence, such as Rumelihisarı or Anadoluhisarı.[10] The word originates in Arabic, where it means 'fortress' and 'blockade', and from where it also made it into Persian as hessar.[14]
Another word used for forts is kermen, which originates from Cuman. It is known as kirmen in Tatar, and as karman in Chuvash. The Russian word kremlin also originates from kermen.[15]
When
See also
- Kala (disambiguation) - Persian alternate spelling of Arabic qal'a
- Qala (disambiguation) or qal'a - Arabic word for fortress or castle
- Qalat (disambiguation) - places whose names contain the words Qalat, Qelat, Kalat, Kalaat, Kalut, or Kelat
- Qila (disambiguation) - Persian (Urdu, Hindi) variant of Arabic qal'a
References
Notes
- ^ in Arabic, the singular is "qala", but English may use "one qalat/many qalats" (Unclear if this is quoted from a source, and if so, from which.)
Citations
- ^ a b c For the derivation of the Arabic term from the Persian, see Leslau (1987) p. 426, citing Fraenkel (1886) p. 237 and Belardi (1959) pp. 147-150.
- ISBN 978-3-447-02592-8
- ISBN 978-3-487-00319-1
- Belardi, Walter (1959). "Arabo قلعة qal‘a". AION Linguistica 1: pp. 147—150
- ^ ISBN 978-81-206-0855-9. Retrieved 1 June 2021. Reprint of first edition.
- ^ a b c d "kale". Nişanyan Sözlük. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
- ^ Belardi, Walter (1959)
- OCLC 1857092
- ^ Can 2015, pp. 143–154.
- ^ Can 2015, pp. 148–150.
- ^ Can 2015, pp. 150–151.
- ^ a b Nicolle 2010, p. 11.
- ^ a b c d "Kale". Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı (TDV) İslam Ansiklopedisi [Turkish Religious Foundation (TDV) Islamic Encyclopedia] (in Turkish). Retrieved 2021-01-25.
- ^ Ersenal 2019, p. 36.
- ^ Ozguven, Burcu (2001). "The Palanka: A Characteristic Building Type of the Ottoman Fortification Network in Hungary". EJOS – Electronic Journal of Oriental Studies. IV.
- ^ Özgüven 2003, p. 157.
- ^ Rajki, András (2005). Arabic Dictionary with etymologies. Accessed 5 September 2018.
- ^ Eren 2006, p. 180.
- ^ Şahi̇n 2013, p. 51.
Sources
- Ersenal, Kemal (2019). Kaleden Yıldız Kale'ye: Lefkoşa ve Mağusa Kuşatmaları Örneğinde Kale Mimarisindeki Değişim (PDF) (Master thesis) (in Turkish).
- Eren, Hasan (2006-01-01). "Coğrafi Adların Etimolojik Sözlüğü". Türk Dili Araştırmaları Yıllığı - Belleten (in Turkish). 51 (2003/2): 170–186. ISSN 0564-5050.
- Şahi̇n, İbrahim (2013-03-04). "Türkiye yeradbiliminde terim ve tür sınıflandırması sorunları". Avrasya Terim Dergisi (in Turkish). 1 (1): 46–58.
- Özgüven, Burcu (2003). "Characteristics of Turkish and Hungarian Palanka-protected Settlements along the River Danube". Archaeology of the Ottoman Period in Hungary. Budapest.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Nicolle, David (2010). Ottoman Fortifications 1300-1710. Osprey Publishing.
- Can, Mesut (2015). Orta Asya Kent Topoğrafyasına Dair Genel Kabuller Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme [An Evaluation of the Perception of the Central Asian Urban Topography] (PDF) (in Turkish). İstanbul. ISBN 978-605-84009-4-8. Retrieved 2 May 2021.)
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
Further reading
- Kennedy, Hugh N. (2006) Muslim Military Architecture in Greater Syria Brill, Leiden, ISBN 90-04-14713-6
- Facey, William (1997) Back to Earth: Adobe Building in Saudi Arabia Al-Turath in association with the London Centre of Arab Studies, London, ISBN 1-900404-13-3
- Bing, Judith et al. (1996) Architectural Elements of Traditional Settlements International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments, Berkeley, California, OCLC 37475487
- Szabo, Albert and Barfield, Thomas J. (1991) Afghanistan: An Atlas of Indigenous Domestic Architecture University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas, ISBN 0-292-70419-4
- Hallet, Stanley Ira and Samizay, Rafi (1980) Traditional Architecture of Afghanistan Garland STPM Press, New York, ISBN 0-8240-7059-3
- Mumtaz, Kamil Khan (1983) Traditional Forms of Rural Habitat in Pakistan UNESCO, Paris, OCLC 10606333
Styles | ||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Elements |
| |||||||||||||||||||
Types |
| |||||||||||||||||||
Resources | ||||||||||||||||||||
Influences |
| |||||||||||||||||||
Category pages | ||||||||||||||||||||