Meanings associated with makam names

Makams are fundamental to Turkish music. What associations and meanings lie behind their names? The list below presents the source article's interpretations; several historical dates and etymologies remain uncertain and should not be treated as settled scholarship.

• Hicazkâr: associated in this article with elegance and imagination, and with works by Abdülbaki Nâsır Dede in the second half of the eighteenth century.

• Karcığar: the article associates this name with a bird of prey; this is its proposed interpretation, not a verified etymology.

• Saba: associated with a gentle morning breeze. The article places an early theoretical reference in the period of Mehmed II.

• Sûznak: explained as “burning”. The article tentatively dates a reference to around 1785 in works attributed to Vardakosta Seyyid Ahmed Ağa.

• Segah: the article associates this makam with an open, noble sadness; this is an emotional description rather than a verified literal meaning.

• Acem Aşıran: the article offers the gloss “Persian beings” and refers to Hafız Post's seventeenth-century song collection. This explanation and dating require historical review.

• Buselik: the article explains the name as “Ebu Selik” and attributes a fourteenth-century reference to a figure it calls the second Safiyüddin; this attribution needs verification.

• Nikriz: the article connects the name with a town between Shiraz and Kerman in Iran and cites fifteenth-century works associated with Mehmed II as an early reference.

• Bayati: the name is linked here to the Bayat branch of the Oghuz, with an early reference attributed to Kantemiroğlu.

• Hicaz: the name refers to the Hejaz region of Arabia. The article cites Urmevi's works as an early source, but its fourteenth-century dating requires correction or verification.

• Nihavent: linked to the historic Iranian city of Nahavand, south of Hamadan; the article also associates it with the Luristan region.

• Hüzzam: described here as expressing profound sadness, with an early reference attributed to Kantemiroğlu.

• Rast: explained as “right”, “straight” or “upright”. The article links an early reference to Safiyüddin Abdülmümin; its fourteenth-century dating requires historical review.

• Uşşak: the Arabic word means “lovers”. The article attributes an early reference to Safiyüddin Abdülmümin; its fourteenth-century dating needs historical review.

• Hüseyni: explained here as “belonging to Hüseyin”. The article attributes an early reference to Safiyüddin Abdülmümin, while its fourteenth-century dating needs historical review.

• Muhayyer: explained as “free” or “left to choice and preference”. The article's claim about fourteenth-century works of Mehmed II is chronologically inconsistent and needs review.

• Mahur: the article connects the name with a town in the former Hyderabad state in India. Its claim about fourteenth-century works of Mehmed II is chronologically inconsistent and requires review.

Cahit Baltacı
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