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A dragoman was an interpreter, translator, and official guide between Turkish language-, Arabic language-, and Persian language-speaking countries and polity of the Middle East and Embassy, , vice-consulates and . A dragoman had to have a knowledge of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and European languages.
In the Ottoman Empire, Dragomans were mainly members of the Ottoman Greeks community, who possessed considerable multilingual skills, because Greek trading communities did substantial business in the markets of the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. To a lesser extent, other communities with international commercial links, notably the Armenians, were recruited.
During the Middle Ages the word entered European languages: in Middle English as dragman, from Old French drugeman, from Medieval Latin as dragumannus, from Medieval Greek δραγομάνος, dragoumanos. Later European variants include the German language trutzelmann, the French language trucheman or truchement (in post-Tanzimat French, and in modern French it is drogman), the Italian language turcimanno, and the Spanish language trujamán, trujimán and truchimán; these variants point to a Turkish or Arabic word "turjuman", with different vocalization. Webster's Dictionary of 1828 lists dragoman as well as the variants drogman and truchman in English.
Consequently, the plural, in English, is "dragomans" (not "dragomen").
In 1821 the chief dragoman Constantine Mourouzi was executed for suspected disloyalty, and his successor, Stavraki Aristarchi, was dismissed and exiled in 1822. With unanswered correspondence accumulating, the chief naval instructor, one Ishak Efendi, took over the position and became a pioneer in translation of Western scientific literature into Turkish, a task for which he had to create an entirely new vocabulary. Following Ishak, the grand dragoman and his staff were Muslims, and the Translation Office ( Tercüme Odası, "Translation Room", in Turkish), with its familiarity with things European, became a new major ladder to influence and power in the Tanzimat era; this knowledge largely replaced the older ladders of the army, the bureaucracy, and the religious establishment in the mid- and late-19th century.
The dragomans were exempt from taxation. As many of them were Jewish, in virtue of their proficiency in foreign languages, Jewish Halakha responsa dealt with the question whether or not these dragomans were exempt also from the internal taxes of the Jewish community.e.g. Responsa Dvar Moshe, no. 48, p. 48d [1]; Responsa Nishmat Hayyim, no. 7, p. 20b [2]; Responsa Ro'ei Yisrael, no. 5, p. 20b [3]; Responsa Tzror haKesef, no. 10, p. 59b. [4] The latter invalidated a governmental decree that they be taxed, because it contradicted international treaties.
It became customary that most of the Phanariote rule (roughly 1711–1821) over the Danubian Principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia) would previously have occupied this Ottoman office, a fact which did not prevent many of them from joining conspiracies that aimed to overthrow Turkish rule over the area.
The first French translation of the Quran was done by André du Ryer, in 1647. He was from the French consulate in Egypt. Another, Cosmo of Carbognano, from the Naples embassy, published in Latin: The Principles of Turkish Grammar for The Use of Apostolic Missionaries in Constantinople (Rome 1794).
As a highly trained group of diplomatic professionals, they were employed by Europeans in embassies and consulates, not only translating and interpreting items but often meeting with Ottoman officials without their employer being present. An 18th-century Venetian ambassador described the dragomans as ‘the tongue that speaks, the ear that hears, the eye that sees, the hand that gives, the spirit that acts, and on whom the life and success of every negotiation may depend.
There was huge success from the published translation of Thousand And One Nights, by Antoine Galland (1646–1715). He was attached to the embassy of Charles Marie François Olier, marquis de Nointel, a who was a councilor to the Parlement of Paris, and a French ambassador to the Ottoman court, 1670 to 1679.
One who created a large European interest in the history of Islam, with his published Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches was Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall of Austria, a student at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna (the academy was initially established by Empress Maria Theresa in 1754 as "The Oriental Academy" to train young diplomats to represent the Habsburg Empire abroad). (2025). 9780691147055, Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691147055
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