Word Origin | Kâğıt

Mavi Boncuk |

Ottomans procured paper originally from Eastern sources.

Some later sources mention Amasya in the early 14th century. During the period of Şadgeldi Pasha, significant development activities are observed in Amasya. In this period; 764H./1363M. The Amasya Castle was repaired and the old mints were renovated, and a large paper factory was built.

Beykoz Paper Factory operating between 1804-1832 and there are quite a lot of documentation on the papers it produces. The competition of European papers  and the inability to produce quantities lead to the closing.

Smyrna/Izmir Paper Factory, started production in 1846 ans for similar reasons, could not survive for a long time.

Established in partnership with the British, Hamidiye Paper Factory in Beykoz, started production in 1893 and could only work for six months. 

When Istanbul was occupied after the First World War, the Allies had this factory dismantled for making warfare equipment

Kâğıt: paper EN [2] fromPE kāġad Sogdian kāġədā/ḳāġədā 

i. (Fars. kāġaḏ > kāġad > kāġıd)

1. Hamur hâline getirilmiş bitki maddelerindeki çok ince liflerin keçeleştirilmesi sûretiyle îmal edilen, yazı yazmak, kitap basmak, sarmak, kaplamak gibi birçok işte kullanılan ince yaprak: “Resim, aydınger, elişi kâğıdı.” “Duvar kâğıdı.” “Paket kâğıdı.” “Tuvalet kâğıdı.” Bunu yazabilmek için bir defter dolusu kâğıt yırtıp attığıma inanınız (Yusuf Z. Ortaç). Mahyacı, yazısını veya resmini evvelâ kutulara bölünmüş bir kâğıt üstüne çizip hazırlar (Sâmiha Ayverdi).

2. Yazılı kâğıt, mektup, tezkere, varaka: Kâğıdımı anama da gönderin (Pir Sultan Abdal). Sakın bir dirliksizlik olmasın. Kızımdan kâğıt da aldığım yok (Ahmed Midhat Efendi).

3. İskambil kâğıdı, oyun kâğıdı: “Bezik dört deste kâğıtla oynanır.” 

4. kısa. Kâğıt lira: Bahşiş diye bir yirmibeşlik kâğıt verdi (Ömer Seyfeddin). Benim gümüş tabaka vardı ya, Recep Efendi’ye on kâğıda sattım (Mahmut Yesâri).

5. sıf. Kâğıttan yapılmış: “Kâğıt şapka.” “Kâğıt para.” “Kâğıt torba.” Gece, hafif rüzgârla sallanan kâğıt fener aydınlığında raksedilir (Ahmet Hâşim).

ѻ Kâğıt açmak: İskambil oyununda kâğıtları dağıttıktan sonra koz olarak bir kâğıdın yüzünü çevirmek. Kâğıt almak: Poker vb. oyunlarda yere attığı kâğıt sayısınca desteden yeni kâğıt istemek. Kâğıt atmak: Kâğıt oyunlarında oyun gereği elindeki kâğıtlardan birini oynamak. Kâğıt çalmak: İskambil oyununda hîle yaparak işine gelen kâğıdı almak. Kâğıt çekmek: Kâğıt oyunlarında oyun gereği desteden kâğıt almak. Kâğıt dağıtmak: Kâğıt oyunlarında oyuncuların hepsine belli sayıda kâğıt vermek. Kâğıt gibi olmak: Kanı çekilip yüzünün rengi solmak, âdeta bembeyaz olmak. Kâğıt kavafı: Resmî dâirelerde iş tâkip eden adam. Kâğıt mendil: Mendil yerine kullanılan yumuşak kâğıt. Kâğıt oyunu: İskambil ile oynanan oyun. Kâğıt peçete: Peçete yerine kullanılmak üzere yapılmış, dört köşe, desenli veya desensiz kâğıt. Kâğıt uçurmak: Mektup veya tezkere ile haber göndermek: Demem ki kâğıt uçursun peyam göndersin / Kebûter-i dil ile bir selâm göndersin (Nihat Bey’den). Kâğıt üzerinde: Nazarî olarak, uygulamaya geçmemiş şekilde. Kâğıt üzerinde kalmak: Yapılması kararlaştırıldığı halde uygulanamamak, sözde kalmak. Kâğıt vermek: Kâğıt oyununda oyun başlarken belli sayıda kâğıt dağıtmak veya bir oyuncuya desteden yeni bir kâğıt vermek. Kâğıda (Kâğıt üzerine) dökmek: (Düşünülen veya konuşulan bir şeyi) Yazıya geçirmek, metin hâline getirmek. Kâğıda kaleme vurmak: Kalemle hesap etmek.

KÂĞIT AĞACI

birl. i. Kâğıt dutu denen ağaç.

Oldest source: kegd/keged [ Uygur pre-1000 ] 

In the early years it might well have beencalled Soghdian paper, named after the region about Samarqand. However, the following eight hundred years, up to the mid-sixteenth century, saw the manufacture of what can be called without any hesitation Arab paper. By this time the great secret of papermaking had escaped to Christendom by way of Spain, or perhaps Sicily.

Another great substitute is hemp, a highly durable material that has been used to make paper since ancient times, first by the Chinese and later by the Arabs. Cultivation of this plant does not require pesticides and provides a quantity of fibre per hectare that is 3-4 times greater than traditional forests. Its main drawback is the cost of processing hemp pulp, which is much higher than conventional cellulose extraction.

The invention of paper is traditionally attributed to the Chinese, but it was actually the Arabs[*] who, after having learned the rudiments of manufacture and made a few improvements, spread the new product throughout the west. It was a long, arduous process that was completed in the second half of the 13th century in Fabriano, a little town of the Marche inland. The reason for this location, which made Fabriano the most important paper production centre of Europe, is very probably linked to the vicinity of Ancona, a port that was particularly open to trade with the Arab world.

Finally, the innovation[**]involved the use of animal gelatin for surface sizing, allowing for better writing and eliminating the problem of the rapid deterioration of paper due to wheat starch sizing (the main reason why registries and notaries were forbidden to use paper for public deeds).

[1] The İbrahim Müteferrika Paper Museum, which was opened in 2013 in the northwestern Turkish province of Yalova. The museum and its atelier, displays various pieces of Ottoman paperwork. 

The papers produced in the museum and atelier particularly stir the interest of calligraphers, illuminators and marbling artists. The goal is to spread the use of local papers when producing artworks in Turkey. Art historian Aytekin Vural, an official at the museum, said he had worked as a volunteer consultant for the development of the paper business and the establishment of many other ateliers. “Our goal is the creation of Turkish Islamic art with papers produced with Kahramanmaraş cotton and Sinop linen rather than Indian, Chinese or Japanese papers,” Vural said.

Watermarked papers in the museum draw particular interest from foreign visitors as the technique was only used in the Ottoman Empire, Vural stated. 

[2]paper (n.) mid-14c., "material consisting of a compacted web or felting of vegetable fibers, commonly as a thin, flexible sheet for writing, printing, etc.," from Anglo-French paper, Old French papier "paper, document," and directly from Latin papyrus "paper, paper made of papyrus stalks," from Greek papyros "any plant of the paper plant genus," a loan-word of unknown origin, often said to be Egyptian (see papyrus).

Sense of "essay, dissertation on a topic" is from 1660s. Meaning "bills of exchange, paper money" is attested by 1722. As "paper for covering the walls of interiors," 1764. As "printed sheet of news" (a shortened form of newspaper), attested by 1640s. Papers, "collection of documents which establish one's identity, standing, credentials, etc.," it is attested from 1680s.

Paper-clip is by 1875; paper-cutter as a type of machine is by 1969. Paper-hanger is by 1796. Paper chase is by 1856 in British English for the game of hare-and-hounds, from the bits of paper scattered as "scent" by the "hares;" the slang meaning "effort to earn a diploma or college degree" is by 1932.

FABRIANO

The growing ability of the increasingly numerous and qualified artisans in Fabriano allowed them to make a real leap in terms of quality. Three innovations in particular led to the rise of Fabriano as the cradle of modern papermaking.

The invention of the hammer mill (13th C. to hammer rags), which replaced the stone mortar and the manual wooden beater used by the Arabs, yielding more homogenous fibres.

 

The importance and diffusion reached a peak in the Renaissance. This is proven both by the many documents that have remained and by the use of a great many watermarks at the time. Many of these can also be found in the letters of some great artists of the period, such as Michelangelo Buonarroti. 

[*] The Arab world discovered the secrets of papermaking in AD 751, when the governor-general of the Caliphate of Bagdad captured two Chinese papermakers in Samarkand and, with their help, founded a paper mill in the Uzbek city. From here, aided by an abundance of hemp and linen, two high-quality raw materials perfect for making paper, production spread to other cities in Asia, particularly Baghdad and Damascus.

The process for making paper employed by the Arabs involved garnetting and macerating rags in water to obtain a homogenous pulp, which was then sifted to separate the macerated fibres from the water. The sheets thus obtained were subsequently pressed, dried and finally covered with a layer of rice starch to make them more receptive to ink. In the same period, people in Egypt and North Africa also started to make paper using the same techniques employed in the Arab world.

[**] The history of paper owes much to the paper makers of Fabriano, a small town in the Marche region of Italy, who started producing paper using linen and hemp in the 12th century. By using new equipment and production techniques, these papermakers introduced important innovations:

They mechanised rag grinding by using hydraulic hammer mills, significantly reducing the time it took to produce pulp.

They started gluing sheets with gelatine, an additive that insects didn’t like.

They created different paper types and formats.

They invented watermarking.