سرای

Ottoman Turkish

Alternative forms

• سارای (saray), سرا (sera)

Etymology

Borrowed from Persian سرای (sarây, “mansion, palace”), from Middle Persian slʾd (srāy, “hall, house”).

Noun

سرای • (seray, saray)

1. palace, seraglio, court, the official residence of a head of state or other dignitary

   Synonym: دربار (derbar)

2. (in general) palace, mansion, any large, expensive and lavishly ornate residence

   Synonym: قصر (kasr)

Derived terms

• آق سرای (ak saray, “a city and province of Turkey”)
• اسكی سرای (eski saray, “the old palace of Istanbul”)
• سرای آغاسی (saray ağası, “any attendant in the palace”)
• سرای آلتی (saray altı, “space below a palace”)
• سرای بورونی (saray burunu, “Sarayburnu”)
• سرای بوسنه (saray bosna, “Sarajevo”)
• سرایلو (saraylı, “possessed of palaces”)
• كروانسرای (kervanseray, “caravanserai”)

 

Saray district, Tekirdağ

Saray district, Van

Descendants

• Turkish: saray
• → Albanian: saraj
• → Armenian: սարայ (saray), սառայ (saṙay), սառա (saṙa)
• → Bulgarian: сара́й (saráj)
• → English: serai, sarai, Sarai
• → Greek: σεράι (serái)
• → Hungarian: szeráj
• → Romanian: serai
• → Serbo-Croatian: sàraj / са̀рај

Proper noun

سرای • (saray)

1. Saray (a town and district in Tekirdağ province, Turkey)
2. Saray (a town and district in Van province, Turkey)

Descendants

• Turkish: Saray

Further reading

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “saray1”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 4071
• Hindoglu, Artin (1838) “سرای”, in Hazine-i lûgat ou dictionnaire abrégé turc-français‎^[1], Vienna: F. Beck, page 266b
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “سرای”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[2], Constantinople: Mihran, page 671
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Palatium”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎^[3], Vienna, column 1234
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “سرای”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[4], Vienna, column 2580
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “saray”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “سرای”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[5], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1048
• Sezen, Tahir (2017) “Saray”, in Osmanlı Yer Adları [Ottoman Place Names]‎^[6], 2nd edition, Ankara: T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü, page 659

Persian

Alternative forms

• سرا (sarâ)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [sa.ˈɾɑːj]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [sä.ɾɑ́ːj]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [sä.ɾɑ́ːj]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [sä.ɾɑ́ːj]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [sä.ɾɔ́ːj]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [sæ.ɹɒ́ːj]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [sä.ɾɔ́j]

Readings
Classical reading?	sarāy
Dari reading?	sarāy
Iranian reading?	sarây
Tajik reading?	saroy

Etymology 1

From Middle Persian slʾd (srāy, “hall, house”), from Old Persian *srāda, from Proto-Iranian *thrāya (“to protect”), from Proto-Indo-European *trā-yo-, suffixed form of *terh₂- (“to cross over”).

Compare Old Armenian սրահ (srah, “hall; curtain”), սրահակ (srahak, “curtain”), Judeo-Persian סראה (srāh, “vestibule”), Arabic سُرَادِق (surādiq, “awning, tent; pavilion, canopy”), and Classical Mandaic ࡎࡓࡃࡒࡀ (sradqā, “pavilion, canopy; curtain”), all borrowed from Iranian.

Noun

سرای • (sarây) (plural سرای‌ها (sarây-hâ))

1. hall
2. dwelling, house
3. mansion
4. inn
5. palace, grand edifice, king's court, seraglio

Derived terms

• کاروانسرای (kârvânsarây), کاروانسرا (kârvânsarâ)
• صومعه‌سرا (sowme'e-sarâ)
• سراپرده (sarâparde)
• سرایدار (sarâydâr)

Descendants

• → Bashkir: һарай (haray)
• → Arabic: سَرَاي (sarāy), سَرَايَة (sarāya), سَرَايَا (sarāyā)
• → Middle Armenian: սարայ (saray)
  • Armenian: սարայ (saray)
• → Ottoman Turkish: سرای (serây, saray) (see there for further descendants)
• → Tatar: сарай (saray)
• → Kazakh: сарай (sarai)
• → Russian: сара́й (saráj) (see there for further descendants)
• → Uyghur: ساراي (saray)
• → Uzbek: saroy
• → Urdu: سرائے (sarā'e)

Etymology 2

See سرودن.

Verb

سرای • (sorây)

1. present stem form of سرودن

References

• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1892) “سرای”, in A Comprehensive Persian–English dictionary, London: Routledge & K. Paul
• Blair, Sheila S.. "Sarāy." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Brill Online, 2013. Reference. 28 November 2013 <http://brillonline.nl/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/saray-SIM_6629>
• MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) “srāy”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press
• Schmitt, Rüdiger (1987) “Armenia and Iran IV. Iranian influences in Armenian 1. General”, in Ehsan Yarshater, editor, Encyclopædia Iranica‎^[7], volume 2, London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, page 449b of 445–459
• Bailey, H. W. (1987) “Armenia and Iran IV. Iranian influences in Armenian 2. Iranian loanwords in Armenian”, in Ehsan Yarshater, editor, Encyclopædia Iranica‎^[8], volume 2, London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, page 465a of 459–465
• “srdqˀ”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–, retrieved 2013-11-28
• Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1979) “սրահ”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, volume IV, Yerevan: University Press, pages 281–282