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Robert Dankoff grew up in Rochester, N.Y. After receiving his BA from Columbia University (1964) he served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Turkey and then went to Harvard University where he received his PhD (1971). He taught at Brandeis University and the University of Arizona before coming to the University of Chicago (1979), where he is Professor of Turkish and Islamic Studies. His research has concentrated on linguistic and literary topics relating to Ottoman Turkish texts and also to the earliest Islamic Turkish texts in Central Asia. He has published several text editions and translations, including: Wisdom of Royal Glory (Kutadgu Bilig): A Turko-Islamic Mirror for Princes (1983) and The Intimate Life of an Ottoman Statesman: Melek Ahmed Pasha (1588-1662), as portrayed in Evliya Çelebi's Book of Travels (Seyahat-name) (1991).

Education:

• BA, 1964, Columbia Univesity; Phi Beta Kappa
• PhD, 1971, Harvard University, Near Eastern Languages and Literatures

Books and Monographs

• Yusuf Khass Hajib, Wisdom of Royal Glory (Kutadgu Bilig): A Turko-Islamic Mirror for Princes, translated, with an introduction and notes, by Robert Dankoff. University of Chicago Press, 1983. Pp. 281
• The Turkic Vocabulary in the Farhang-i Zafan-Guya . Papers on Inner Asia, No. 4 (Bloomington, Indiana, 1987). Pp. 43
• Evliya Çelebi in Bitlis . Leiden: Brill, 1990. Pp. xx + 435
• The Intimate Life of an Ottoman Statesman: Melek Ahmed Pasha (1588-1662), as portrayed in Evliya Çelebi’s Book of Travels (Seyahat-name) . State University of New York Press, 1991. Pp. 304
• An Evliya Çelebi Glossary: Unusual, Dialectal and Foreign Words in the Seyahat-name . Cambridge, Mass. [In: Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures, ed. Sinasi Tekin & Gönül Alpay Tekin.] 1991. Pp. 131
• A Guide to the Seyahat-name of Evliya Çelebi . In: Materialien zu Evliya Çelebi II (together with Klaus Kreiser, Bibliographie raisonnée). Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients B 90/2. Wiesbaden, 1992. Pp. 136
• Armenian Loanwords in Turkish . Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1995. Pp. 217
• An Ottoman Mentality: The World of Evliya Çelebi . Leiden: Brill, 2004.
  

• [with James Kelly] Mahmud al-Kashgari, Compendium of the Turkic Dialects (Diwan Lugat at-Turk), edited and translated with introduction and indices. Cambridge, Mass. [In: Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures, ed. Sinasi Tekin.] Part I: 1982 (Pp. xi + 416). Part II: 1984 (Pp. iii + 381). Part III: 1985 (Pp. 337 + microfiche)
• [with A. Turgut Kut and J. J. S. Weitenberg] The Versified Armenian-Turkish Glossary by Kalayi, ca. 1800. Cleveland State University, 1996. Pp. 61
• [with Robert Elsie] Evliya Çelebi in Albania and Adjacent Regions ( Kosovo, Montenegro, Ohrid). Leiden: Brill, 2000. Pp. 299
• [with Yücel Daglı and Seyit Ali Kahraman] Evliya Çelebi Seyahatnamesi 7. Kitap. Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2003. Pp. xxxvii + 395
• [with Seyit Ali Kahraman and Yücel Daglı] Evliya Çelebi Seyahatnamesi 8. Kitap. Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2003. Pp. xliii + 417
• [with Semih Tezcan] Evliya Çelebi Seyahatnamesi Okuma Sözlügü. Istanbul, 2004. Pp. 329
• [with Yücel Daglı and Seyit Ali Kahraman] Evliya Çelebi Seyahatnamesi 9. Kitap. Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2005. Pp. xlvi + 498

Articles

• Baraq and Buraq. Central Asiatic Journal 15.2 (1971), 102-17
• Kashgari on the Tribal and Kinship Organization of the Turks. Archivum Ottomanicum 4 (1972), 23-43
• The Alexander Romance in the Diwan Lughat at-Turk. Humaniora Islamica 1 (1973), 233-44
• A note on khutu and chatuq. Journal of the American Oriental Society 93.4 (1973), 542-43
• Kashgari on the Beliefs and Superstitions of the Turks. Journal of the American Oriental Society 95.1 (1975), 68-80
• Animal Traits in the Army Commander. Journal of Turkish Studies 1 (1977), 95-112
• Middle Turkic Vulgarisms. In: Aspects of Altaic Civilization II (ed. L. V. Clark and P. A. Draghi, Bloomington, Indiana, 1978), 59-64
• Textual Problems in Kutadgu Bilig. Journal of Turkish Studies 3 (1979), 89-99.
• Three Turkic Verse Cycles Relating to Inner Asian Warfare. Eucharisterion . . . Omeljan Pritsak (Harvard Ukrainian Studies 3/4, 1979-80), Part 1, 151-65
• On Nature in Karakhanid Literature. Journal of Turkish Studies 4 (1980), 27-35
• Inner Asian Wisdom Traditions in the Pre-Mongol Period. Journal of the American Oriental Society 101.1 (1981), 87-95
• Some Notes on the Middle Turkic Glosses. Journal of Turkish Studies 5 (1981), 41-44
• “Inner” and “Outer” Oguz in Dede Korkut. Turkish Studies Association Bulletin 6.2 (1982), 21-25
• Evliya Chelebi on the Armenian Language of Sivas in 1650. Annual of Armenian Linguistics 4 (1983), 47-56
• The Lyric in the Romance: The Use of Ghazals in Persian and Turkish Masnavis. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 43.1 (1984), 9-25
• “Mıgdisi”: An Armenian Source for the Seyahatname. Wiener Zietschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 76 (1986 = Festschrift Andreas Tietze), 73-79
• The Romance of Iskender and Gülshah. In: Turkic Culture: Continuity and Change (ed. S. M. Akural, 1987 = Indiana University Turkish Studies 6), 95-103 [Turkish translation in: Mehmet Kalpaklı, ed., Osmanlı Divan Siiri Üzerine Metinler ( Istanbul, 1999), 315-20]
• Bedlis. In: Encyclopaedia Iranica, volume IV, fascicule 1 [1989], 74-75
• The Languages of the World according to Evliya Çelebi. Journal of Turkish Studies 13 (1989 = Gerhard Doerfer Festschrift), 23-32
• Turkic Languages and Turkish Dialects according to Evliya Çelebi. Altaica Osloensia: Proceedings from the 32nd Meeting of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference, ed. Bernt Brendemoen, Oslo, 1990, 89-102
• Two Armeno-Turkish Texts: Lament for a Dead Daughter and Game of Chance. Journal of Turkish Studies 14 (1990), 151-162
• [with Victor A. Friedman] The Earliest Known Text in Balkan (Rumelian) Romani: A Passage from Evliya Çelebi’s Seyahat-name. Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society (Series 5) 1.1 (1991), 1-20 [Reprint in: Victor A. Friedman, Turkish in Macedonia and Beyond: Studies in Contact, Typology and other Phenomena in the Balkans and the Caucasus ( Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2003), 156-68]
• Qarakhanid Literature and the Beginnings of Turco-Islamic Culture. In: Central Asian Monuments (ed. Hasan B. Paksoy, Istanbul, 1992), 73-80
• Evliya Çelebi’s Book of Travels as a Source for the Visual Arts. Turkish Studies Association Bulletin 16.1 (1992), 39-50
• Marrying a Sultana: The Case of Melek Ahmed Pasha. In: Decision Making and Change in the Ottoman Empire (ed. Caesar E. Farah, Kirksville, Missouri, 1993), 169-182
• An Unpublished Account of mum söndürmek in the Seyahatname of Evliya Chelebi. In: Bektachiyya: Études sur l’ordre mystique des Bektachis et les groupes relevant de Hadji Bektach (ed. A. Popovic and G. Veinstein, Istanbul: Isis, 1995), 69-73
• Evliya Çelebi’de Gramer ve Üslûp Hususiyetleri. In: Uluslararası Türk Dili Kongresi 1988 ( Ankara, 1996), 147-152
• Bodleian Kütüphanesi’nde Yeni Bulunan bir Nasreddin Hoca Yazması. In: Uluslararası Türk Dili Kongresi 1992 ( Ankara, 1996), 123-129
• From the Book of Travels: The Girl Who Gave Birth to an Elephant. In: Kemal Sılay, ed., An Anthology of Turkish Literature (Bloomington, Indiana, 1996), 208-209
• Penc-beyt as a Synonym of ghazal in Evliya Çelebi. Turkish Studies Association Bulletin 21.2 (1997), 59-60
• [with Semih Tezcan] Seyahat-name’den Bir Atasözü. Türk Dilleri Arastırmaları 8 (1998), 15-28
• Establishing the Text of Evliya Çelebi’s Seyahatname: A Critique of Recent Scholarship and Suggestions for the Future. Archivum Ottomanicum 18 (2000), 139-44 [printed without the page of samples]
• Yusuf Khass Hadjib. In: Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition. Vol. XI (2001), 359-60
• “The Story of Faris and Vena” Eremya Çelebi’s Turkish Version of an Old French Romance. Journal of Turkish Studies 26 (2002 = Essays in Honour of Barbara Flemming), I, 107-61
• Evliya Çelebi and the Seyahatname. In: The Turks, 6 vols., vol. 3: Ottomans (ed. Hasan Celâl Güzel, Ankara, 2002), 605-26 [Turkish translation as “Evliya Çelebi ve Seyahâtnamesi Isıgında Osmanlı Toplum Hayatı” in: Türkler, 21 vols., vol. 10 ( Ankara, 2002), 268-91]
• S,u Rasadı Yıkalım mı? Evliya Çelebi ve Filoloji. In: Evliya Çelebi ve Seyahatname (ed. Nurhan Tezcan & Kadir Atlansoy, Dogu Akdeniz Üniversitesi, 2002), 99-118
• [with Gary Leiser] Yunus Emre’s Influence on Turkish Literature and His Imitators, By Mehmed Fuad Köprülü (translation of Ch. 10 of Köprülü’s Türk Edebiyatında Ilk Mutasavvıflar). Mésogeios 17-18 (2002), 173-207
• Daily Life in the Seyahatname: A Party in Istanbul. Journal of Turkish Studies 27/II (2003 = Kaf Dagının Ötesine Varmak: Festschrift In Honor Of Günay Kut), II, 9-12

Reviews

• G. Doerfer, Khalaj Materials. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 93.4 (1973), 571-2
• H. W. Brands, Studien zum Wortbestand der Türksprachen. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 95.2 (1975), 294-96
• Bodrogligeti, Ahmad’s Baraq-Nama and Halis’s Story of Ibrahim. In: Journal of Turkish Studies 2 (1978), 141-45
• G. M. Smith, ed., Yusuf-i Meddah, Varqa ve Gülshah. In: Journal of Turkish Studies 2 (1978), 146-54
• R. R. Arat, Kutadgu Bilig III: Indeks. In: Journal of Turkish Studies 3 (1979), 461-64
• G. Hazai, Kurze Einführung in das Studium der türkischen Sprache. In: Wiener Zietschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 72 (1980), 217-18
• E. Prokosch, Studien zur Grammatik des Osmanisch-Türkischen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Vulgärosmanisch-Türkischen. In: International Journal of Turkish Studies 2.1 (1981), 175-76
• [with A. Manaster-Ramer] G. Doerfer and S. Tezcan, Wörterbuch des Chaladsch. In: Wiener Zietschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 74 (1982), 270-80
• K. Sanjian and A. Tietze, Eremya Chelebi Kömürjian’s Armeno-Turkish Poem “The Jewish Bride.” In: Turkish Studies Association Bulletin 8.1 (1984), 35-37
• Tietze, Mustafa Ali’s Counsel for Sultans of 1581, I & II. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 106.3 (1986), 587-88
• M. Adamovic, Konjugationsgeschichte der türkischen Sprache. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 106.4 (1986), 826-27
• R. Sesen, C. Izgi, C. Akpınar, Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Köprülü Library, I-III. In: Turkish Studies Association Bulletin 12.2 (1988), 116-17
• K. Kehl-Bodrogi, Die Kızılbas Aleviten: Untersuchungen über eine esoterische Glaubens­gemeinschaft in Anatolien. In Middle East Studies Association Bulletin 23.1 (July 1989), 53-55
• L. Chookaszian, ed. Yeghia Musheghyan Karnets‘i: Turk‘eren-hayeren bararan. In: Annual of Armenian Linguistics 10 (1989), 110-11
• Ugur, The Reign of Selim I. . . . In: International Journal of Turkish Studies 4.2 (1989), 271-73
• Hetzer, Dackeren-Texte. . . . In: Turkish Studies Association Bulletin 14.1 (1990), 88-92
• S. Tulu, Chorasantürkische Materialien aus Kalat bei Esfarayen. In: Middle East Studies Association Bulletin 26.2 (1992), 237-38
• M. Adamovic, Die Rechtslehre des Imam an-Nasafi in türkischer Bearbeitung vom Jahre 1332. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 113.2 (1993), 296-97
• E. Bosworth, et. al., eds., Essays in Honor of Bernard Lewis: The Islamic World, from Classical to Modern Times. In: Journal of Near Eastern Studies 53.3 (1994), 230-32
• J. Sublet, Les Trois Vies du Sultan Baibars. In: Journal of Near Eastern Studies 55.3 (1996), 198
• H. E. Boeschoten and M. Vandamme, eds., Al-Rabghuzı, The Stories of the Prophets. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 117.1 (1997), 115-26 [review article entitled “Rabghuzi’s Stories of the Prophets”]
• M. Adamovic, ed., Kelile ü Dimne: Türkische Handschrift T 189 der Forschungsbibliothek Gotha. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 117.3 (1997), 595-96
• K. Bugday, ed., Evliya Çelebis Anatolienreise aus dem dritten Band des Seyahatname. In: Wiener Zietschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 87 (1997), 358-63
• W. M. Thackston Jr., ed., Baburnama: Chaghatay Turkish Text with Abdul-Rahim Khankhanan’s Persian Translation; Eiji Mano, ed., Babur-nama (Vaqayi‘), I: Critical Edition based on Four Chaghatay Texts; II: Concordance and Classified Indexes. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 117.4 (1997), 744-46
• H. Neudecker, The Turkish Bible Translation by Yahya bin ’Ishak, Also Called Haki (1659). In: The Jewish Quarterly Review 87.3-4 (1997), 378-79
• W. G. Andrews, N. Black and M. Kalpaklı, Ottoman Lyric Poetry: An Anthology. In: International Journal of Middle East Studies 30.4 (1998), 625-28
• Bellér-Hann, A History of Cathay: A Translation and Linguistic Analysis of a Fifteenth-Century Turkic Manuscript. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 119.3 (1999), 539-40
• E. Schütz, Armeno-Turcica: Selected Studies. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 119.3 (1999), 549-50
• Bulut, Christiane, Evliya Çelebis Reise von Bitlis nach Van. In: Wiener Zietschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 89 (1999), 337-42
• Mélikoff, Hadji Bektach, un mythe et ses avatars; Syncretistic Religious Communities in the Near East; Alevi Identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.2 (2000), 273-74
• R. Ermers, Arabic Grammars of Turkic. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.3 (2000), 491
• P. Golden, ed., The King’s Dictionary: The Rasulid Hexaglot: Fourteenth Century Vocabularies in Arabic, Persian, Turkic, Greek, Armenian and Mongol. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 121.3 (2001), 514-16
• S. Ilic, ed., Hüseyin Lamekani: Ein osmanischer Dichter und Mystiker und sein literarisches Werk. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 121.4 (2001), 715-17
• Dede Korkut Oguznameleri, ed. Semih Tezcan – Hendrik Boeschoten; Semih Tezcan, Dede Korkut Oguznameleri Üzerine Notlar. In: AATT Bulletin [American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages] 27-28 (2001), 24-25
• Mehmet Yalçın, ed., The Dîvân of Qânsûh al-Ghûrî; Orhan Yavuz, ed., Kansu Gavrî’nin Türkçe Dîvânı. In: Mamluk Studies Review VIII (1) (2004), 303-07