The Ottoman Fiscal Calendar
The Ottoman Fiscal Calendar
The Ottoman Fiscal Calendar
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Association Bulletin
RICHARD B. ROSE
157
II
While we use calendars every day, we may be less familiar with their
structure, much like using word processing routinely, but being baffled by
the codes behind them. The information in this section can be skipped or
reviewed lightly, depending on the reader's familiarity.
AH. The Hijra lunar era, and the basis of the Muslim calendar. In
writing, Hijra dates are indicated by codes in Roman or Arabic characters,
thus: AH 1293, or jt \ YST. AH = anno hegirae, and the letter j» refers to
the Arabic word, hijra.
AD. The Christian solar era, used with OS or Julian calendar (and
referred to as the "Rum!" calendar in Arabic and Turkish) , and with
the NS Gregorian calendar (called "MiladT" in Arabic and Turkish). In
writing, these dominical dates are indicated by codes in Roman or Arabic
characters, thus: AD 1924, or ^ AD = anno domini, and the letter
miTTi refers either to masihi/ , a word for Christian, or to miladi.
AD usage is often denoted with another code, CE, for the Common Era.
OS. The Julian Old Style solar calendar, used with the Christian era,
but based on existing Roman reckoning. Due to its lack of correspondence
with the true solar cycle, the Julian reckoning was displaced by
rian reform (see below). Other codes are VS (Latin) or AS (most
languages, and German).
NS. The Gregorian New Style solar calendar was the result o
endar reform instituted by Pope Gregory Thirteenth in AD 158
differences between OS and NS are still only a matter of weeks, and
months, it is useful to denote years with these codes only when asce
corresponding months or days as well, thus: 16 February [ad] 191
March [ad] 1917 NS. This same code functions in Latin, Romanc
German languages also.
SM. A solar calendar which uses the Hijra era. No particular
letter is used to denote it, and it is more frequently written and prin
the millennian absent, thus: SM 1302 or just V* Y = AD 1886 =
or ^ T * T. As this report will explain, the fiscal calendar used t
era overlaid on a Julian OS calendar, with some peculiarities deriv
its adaptation for the Ottoman environment. SM = sene-i-mali
year in Turkish, or sana(tu) maliya in Arabic.
THE MUSLIM CALENDAR
The era on which this lunar calendar is based begins on the day
on which the Prophet Muhammad left Mecca for the city of Yathrib,
or Medina, to which he had been invited. According to the Christian
(Julian) calendar, this date is July 16, AD 622. This departure or flight
from Mecca in Arabic is hijra, hence, the Hegiran or Hijran calendar. The
Hijran calendar's lunar cycle has 354 days, 11 days shorter than the solar
year. In addition, in order to keep up with the true lunar cycle, 11 days
are intercalated over a 30-year cycle, the Hijra calendar equivalent to leap
years on the solar calendar.3
OS AND NS DISCREPANCIES
Ill
5 For Europe, see Grumel, Chronologie, 255, and Reginald Poole "The Beginning
of the Year in the Middle Ages," Proceedings of the British Academy 10 (1921) 1-25
(particularly pp. 4-6).
parallel with the Julian OS year, though the months bore diffe
from those used in Europe. This state of affairs is somew
conditions in the modern state of Israel, which functions on th
and Jewish calendars, each in its own spheres.
This solar financial year did vary in two respects from t
calendar. First, the Ottoman fiscal calendar began on the f
rather than the first of January (as explained in part II).
millennian number was that of the Hijra era, rather than t
That is, the SM year's millennian was that of the current lu
in which the SM year began. For example, the 1st of March
calendar year 1864 falls within the lunar year AH 1281. Ther
year starting on that same 1st of March was reckoned as SM 12
the Hijra era.
This scheme was not without some difficulties, however. Th
is 11 days (approximately) longer than the lunar year, and s
of March falls 11 days later with the passage of each lunar year
the point that, when the start of the SM year (1st of March) f
days of the start of the AH lunar year (the 1st of Muharra
year will finish its cycle before the next 1st of March, thus en
the time borders of that solar year. This circumstance will o
(lunar) years, and whenever it did, the practice developed of
solar year, in order to catch up with the faster lunar cycle.
The first time this was done was in AD 1676. The 1st of March of
that year occurred during the year AH 1086, but only 4 days later, AH
1087 began, which would end before the following 1st of March (solar).
Therefore, the SM year which coincided (for 9 months) with AD 1676 was
called SM 1086, as it began during that Hijran year. But the following
fiscal year was called SM 1088; SM 1087 was skipped. This adjustment was
necessary to ensure that the fiscal years would overlap with the religious
calendar (lunar cycle) most of the time. The year left out was sene-i-sivig,
the empty or hidden year.6 This adjustment was duly accomplished for
the years AH 1121, 1154, 1188, 1222, and 1255, which brings us into the
early nineteenth century. This sivitj correction would probably have gone
into the twentieth century (when the Hijra era was abandoned altogether
in Turkey), were it not for an unexpected incident which called the system
into question.
Sometime during the year SM 1287 (which began the 1st of March AD
1871 OS, and during the year AH 1287, although that lunar year was to
On the sivig system, see Unat, Hicri Ta.rih.leri, p. viii (1943 ed.) or p. xiii (1959
end 10 days later), coupon booklets were printed for the consolida
repayment program.7
After the booklets were released, it was noticed that coupons h
included for the year SM 1288, which was to have been skipped,
AH 1288 would have ended before SM 1288 ever began. The error
been made public, however, it was decided not to correct it, but in
abandon the sivig correction entirely. As a result, SM 1288 (which beg
1st of March AD 1872 OS) no longer matched the lunar calendar, i
it was the year AH 1289. The two calendars no longer synchroniz
is the reason for devising SM/ad concordance tables, because the
year is no longer a practical guide for aligning the SM and AD ca
after AD 1870.
The next chapter in the Ottoman fiscal calendar began in AD 1916,
when the Sultan's ministers decided to accord the SM calendar (which was,
in effect, a civil Julian calendar) with the Gregorian calendar, then in use
for civil and business purposes world-wide. It is no accident that Turkey
was an ally of Germany and Austro-Hungary at that time in the Great War,
nations which used the Gregorian calendar, while their common adversary,
Russia, still followed Julian usage. The Old Style calendar was, and is, the
basis for religious calendars among most Orthodox or Eastern Christian
churches today.
This change was to be implemented in the transition from SM 1332
to SM 1333—February and March of AD 1917—in two stages.8 In the
first stage, the 13-day discrepancy between OS and NS calendars was
compensated by starting SM 1333 on the NS Gregorian 1st of March, rather
than the OS Julian 1st of March (which occurred 13 days earlier; see the
Table for 1917, ahead). As a result, Shobat (= February), the 12th month
of SM 1332, lost 13 days (the 16th to 28th).
In the next phase, the year SM 1333 (= AD 1917) lost two months—
Kanun-i-thani (January) and Shobat (February) (of 1918)—because SM
1334 (1918) would now begin on the 1st of January, New Style, instead of
the 1st of March. Thus, from the 1st of January AD 1918 NS, the Ottoman
fiscal calendar was identical to the Gregorian New Style calendar, except
in its two particular features: (1) the millennian was the quasi
and (2) the names of months were Turkish. This first peculiari
away with in a decree of December 1925, which approved the
the Western (Dominical) era as of 1 January 1926.
IV
Examples:
Y ^ ^TY\ = day 21 of Haziran (= June) SM 1321. Add 13 days
to 21 June OS to get 4 July NS. Add 584 years to 1321 to get AD 1905.
- Y - ^VYY = day 14 of 7th month (= Eilul/September) SM 1322.
Add 13 days to September 14 OS to get September 27 NS. Add 584 years
to 1322 to get AD 1906.
YA - V - no = day 28 of 10th month (= Kanun-i-evel/December)
SM 1315. Add 12 days to December 28 OS to get January 9 NS. Add 584
years to 1315 to get AD 1899. [The change in day formula from adding 12
days to adding 13, in converting Julian OS to Gregorian NS, begins with
February 29, 1900 OS. To convert from Gregorian back to Julian, 13 days
are subtracted only as of March 12, 1900 NS.]
4. 1917. Table 3. The year of conversion from a Julian to Gregorian
base for the fiscal calendar was full of momentous events in the Middle
East, as elsewhere around the globe. For these reasons, it may be usefu
to refer to the more detailed Table for 1917 for this period, to ensure an
accurate translation of dates.
1. Table of Years
For SM years 1088 through 1120 add 589 = AD years 1677 to 1709
(March through December)*
SM 1121 was dropped, sivi§
For SM years 1122 through 1153 add 588 = AD years 1710 to 1741
(March through December)
SM 1154 was dropped, sivi§
For SM years 1155 through 1187 add 587 = AD years 1742 to 1774
(March through December)
SM 1188 was dropped, sivig
For SM years 1189 through 1220 add 586 = AD years 1775 to 1806
(March through December)
SM 1221 was dropped, sivi§
For SM years 1222 through 1254 add 585 = AD years 1807 to 1839
(March through December)
SM 1255 was dropped, sivi§
For SM years 1256 through 1332 add 584 = AD years 1840 to 1916
(March through December)
For SM years 1333 through 1341 add 584 = AD years 1917 to 1925
(January through December)
* E.g., SM 1088 + 589 = AD 1677 (March through December, plus January and
February of AD 1678).
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