Giaour or Gawur or Gavour (; , ; from ''gâvor''; ; ; ; ; Bosnian; kaur/đaur) meaning "infidel", is a slur used mostly in the lands of the former

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

for non-Muslims or, more particularly,

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

Terminology

The terms "''

kafir ''Kāfir'' (; , , or ; ; or ) is an Arabic-language term used by Muslims to refer to a non-Muslim, more specifically referring to someone who disbelieves in the Islamic God, denies his authority, and rejects the message of Islam as ...

"'', "''gawur",'' and "''

rûm Rūm ( , collective; singulative: ''Rūmī'' ; plural: ''Arwām'' ; ''Rum'' or ''Rumiyān'', singular ''Rumi''; ), ultimately derived from Greek Ῥωμαῖοι ('' Rhomaioi'', literally 'Romans'), is the endonym of the pre-Islamic inhabi ...

"'' (the last meaning " Rum millet") were commonly used in

defter A ''defter'' was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire. Etymology The term is derived from Greek , literally 'processed animal skin, leather, fur', meaning a book, having pages of goat parchment used along with papyrus ...

s (tax registries) for Orthodox Christians, usually without ethnic distinction. Christian ethnic groups in the Balkan lands of the Ottoman Empire included

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

(''rûm''),

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

(''bulgar''),

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

(''sırp''),

Albanians The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

(''arnavut'') and

Vlachs Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula ...

(''eflak''), among others. The 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' described the term as follows: During the

Tanzimat The (, , lit. 'Reorganization') was a period of liberal reforms in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Edict of Gülhane of 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Driven by reformist statesmen such as Mustafa Reşid Pash ...

(1839–1876) era, a

hatt-i humayun Hatt-i humayun ( , plural , ), also known as hatt-i sharif ( , plural , ), was the diplomatics term for a document or handwritten note of an official nature composed and personally signed by an Ottoman sultan. These notes were commonly written b ...

prohibited the use of the term by Muslims with reference to non-Muslims to prevent problems occurring in social relationships.

European cultural references

*Giaour is the name given to the evil monster of a man in the tale ''

Vathek ''Vathek'' (alternatively titled ''Vathek, an Arabian Tale'' or ''The History of the Caliph Vathek'') is a Gothic novel written by William Beckford. It was composed in French beginning in 1782, and then translated into English by Reverend Sa ...

'', 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. *In 1813

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

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

. * ''Le Giaour'', an 1832 painting by

Ary Scheffer Ary Scheffer (10 February 179515 June 1858) was a Dutch-French Romantic painter. He was known mostly for his works based on literature, with paintings based on the works of Dante, Goethe, Lord Byron and Walter Scott, Macmillan, Duncan (2023), ' ...

, oil on canvas, " Musée de la Vie romantique", Hôtel Scheffer-Renan, Paris. * Sonnet XL of ''

Sonnets from the Portuguese ''Sonnets from the Portuguese'', written and published first in 1850, is a collection of 44 love sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The collection was acclaimed and popular during the poet's lifetime and it remains so today. Desp ...

'' (1850) by

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime and frequently anthologised after her death. Her work receiv ...

contains these lines:

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

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{Religious slurs Islam-related slurs Turkish words and phrases Ethno-cultural designations Christianity in the Ottoman Empire Exonyms

Terminology

European cultural references

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography